Persona 3: A New Story
by UnknownWriter98
Summary: Arriving at the Iwatodie Dorms, Minako Arisato wonders if she will finally be able to settle down in this city... This is a different take on Persona 3, following the same main story events, but some alterations and additions have been made, from the point of view of the Female Protagonist. Featuring the P3 cast from Persona 3 Portable, female protagonist route. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter I: First Day

**Hey guys and gals, I wanted to do something that focused more on the Persona 3 cast this time, particularly the female protagonist (who I'll be calling Minako Arisato for this FF). This will be my own take on the events of P3P, following the same key events of P3, but adding my own reactions and events in the mix, hope y'all enjoy!**

 **Chapter I: First Day**

Time never waits. It delivers all equally to the same end. You, who wish to safeguard the future, however limited it may be... You will be given one year; go forth without falter, with your heart as your guide...

It was a dark night of '99, a full moon shone a blinding light upon the Moonlight Bridge. Two figures, neither of them human, fought a fierce battle like superheros out of the manga I read. I looked around and saw my mom, who had blood dripping from her mouth and onto the floor. I was in a complete state of shock and froze in my path, just thinking to myself that this must be a dream. I had to wake up, right? This isn't real! Before she passed away, she uttered one word, which I have stood by all of my life.

'Live.'

Now, ten years later, I was to return to Iwatodie, as if fate had intervened and sent me back to where it all began. I sat on the train, awaiting its arrival at Iwatodie station, listening to my latest favorite hit single, 'Burn my Dread'. I don't know what it was about the song, but whenever I felt down, anxious or thought about the past, I would listen to this song and be back to my usual, bubbly self in no time. I have been moving from place to place all the time because I was, well, a special case. However, when I received the acceptance letter from Gekkoukan High School, I had a feeling that this would be the place I finally settled down in, until the day I die.

'Iwatodie. Next stop, Tatsumi Port Island.' The announcer echoed through the mostly empty train carriage.

I stood up and picked up my duffle bag, which contained all of my belongings (mostly consisting of my clothes and a picture of my parents), and headed for the doors. The train slowly pulled into the station and the doors slid open. When I stepped out onto the platform, a shiver went down my spine as the moon started glowing yellow and every piece of electronic equipment, including my headphones and phone, turned off. There was a sudden shift of silence. This was yet another one of those nights that have haunted me ever since that day. The Dark Hour.

I figured that it would be best that I headed straight for the dorm that I had been assigned in the admissions paper, Iwatodie Dorms, not that far from the monorail station. I walked out into the street and noticed that it was lined with coffins. This was no cheap vampire show, these were people that have been transmogrified in order to keep them safe during this hour. However, I was cursed with this hour of silence every single night, as soon as the clock struck midnight. When I got to the dorm, I was more than surprised to be met with another voice, a boy's voice.

'Hello there.' He greeted me. 'Before you proceed, I need you to sign this contract. Don't worry, it just states that you will be held responsible for your own actions. You know, the usual stuff.'

I thought that it was strange that a boy who looked so young was in charge of this contract. However, I thought that it was for staying at the dorm, so I signed my name, Minako Arisato. Then, he vanished into the darkness and I was met by another voice, this time of a fearful girl.

'Who's there?' A fearful girl in pink shouted, emerging from the shadows and wielding a gun. 'Wait, if it's this hour then you must be...'

'I know that it's late, but no need for a gun.' I told her.

The lights turned back on, which officially signified the end of The Dark Hour, and life was returned to the city. This also revealed a more sophisticated looking girl with red hair, who was coming down the stairs.

'Takeba wait!' She commanded, seeing the situation.

'The lights?' She slowly holstered her gun.

'I apologize for that rather, harsh, greeting.' The redhead smiled, now standing in front of me, next to this 'Takeba'. 'My name is Mitsuru Kirijo, third year, this here is Yukari Takeba, she's a junior like you.'

'Hi, I'm Yukari.' She greeted me, turning to Mitsuru. 'Why's she here?'

'She has been temporarily assigned assigned to this dorm.' Mitsuru explained. 'She will stay here until we can make arrangements for her to be moved to the regular dorms.'

'Isn't this a regular dorm?' I asked them both.

'Well yeah, but...' Yukari began to stutter.

'Well this dorm is coed for one thing, there are other differences from the other dorms too, but I imagine you're tired after such a long journey. You're room is on the third floor, here.' Mitsuru covered her, handing me my keys which included keys for the roof, front and back doors.

'I see.' I wasn't fully convinced. 'Why is she carrying a gun though?'

'Erm...' Yukari was lost for words.

'For protection of course.' Mitsuru said in a happy tone. 'We've been attacked before, so we took the appropriate measures to avoid a repetition of the past.'

I was too tired to argue, so I admitted defeat with a smile.

'Well, I'll be off to bed now if that's everything.' She nodded, looking at me, and left.

'I'll show you to your room.' Yukari kindly offered.

I decided to take Yukari up on her offer and I followed her up the stairs to the third floor and all the way to the end of the corridor, which led to my room. I looked back down the hallway, memorizing the route to my room with ease. Yukari turned and smiled at me.

'Here we are! Pretty easy to remember, huh?' She asked.

'Yeah, thanks.' I smiled back at her.

'Right.' There was a moment of awkward silence. 'Do you know the way to school from here?'

'Sort of, I could use a guide though, if you don't mind that is?' I asked her.

'How about that? I was just about to offer to be your guide for the day!' We both laughed together. 'I imagine Mitsuru-senpi will want some sleep, so I'll see you in the morning, kay?'

'Alright, Night Yukari-san.' I told her.

'Night, I didn't catch your name?' She stopped as she was walking off.

'Arisato, Minako Arisato.' I told her. 'You can call me Minako though.'

With that, we both went our separate ways and I opened the door to my room. I placed the bag on the floor and unzipped it, getting out my Gekkoukan High School uniform and placing it in my wardrobe, ready for tomorrow. I figured that I'd unpack the rest when I got home. I rested on the bed and soon enough fell asleep, waiting for the next day to come.

The next morning, I woke up and got ready for my first day at a new school. I prayed that I'd make friends as I left the dorms with Yukari and headed for the monorail station. Whilst on the monorail, Yukari told me about the history of Port Island, how it was a man made island and Gekkoukan High was built smack bang in the middle of it. I looked out of the window, at the spotless ocean as we glided over the body of water which separates Iwatodie from Port Island. Yukari came and stood next to me, taking a deep breath in.

'This is my favorite part of the journey.' She told me. 'It feels like you can look out over the horizon and forget all of your troubles, it really clears my head for school.'

'Yeah, I know what you mean.' I naturally smiled as my head was cleared.

'Hey, about last night.' She turned to face me. 'Don't tell anyone what happened please.'

'Don't worry about it.' I ensured her.

We got to school and she pointed me to the direction of the board which had a bunch of names pinned to it, listing off their classes. She also pointed me towards a corridor that lead to the faculty office, before quickly leaving to join her friends. My first objective here was to find out what class I was in. I looked at the board and had to look twice before I could find my name, Minako Arisato – 2 – F. Before heading to the direction of the faculty office, I noticed that I was in the same class as Yukari. When I was looking for the faculty office, a nice looking girl with a pony tail haircut saw how badly I was failing this task, so she approached me with a smile.

'Hey, I'm Rio Iwasaki.' She introduced herself. 'Say, I don't recognize your face from last year, are you a transfer student here?'

'Yeah, I'm a junior.' I told her. 'Minako Arisato.'

'Oh yes, I heard that you came with Yukari-san.' She smiled. 'Do you need help with anything?'

'Yeah, I'm looking for the faculty office and I'm kinda lost.' I admitted to her.

'Don't worry, you were on the right tracks, this way.' She indicated at me to follow her.

I followed her to the faculty office, where I met my homeroom teacher, Ms Toriumi and signed some documents. When I came out again, Rio was waiting for me alongside two new faces, another girl and a boy in his PE uniform, which I found to be a bit strange on such a warm, spring day.

'Can you believe it Rio? Kazushi is in 2 – F, so I can't look after him like last year.' The girl was complaining.

'It's not that bad, Yuko, you can still see him at lunch and after school.' Rio then noticed me. 'Oh hey Arisato, is everything alright now?'

'Yeah, thanks for the help.' I told her.

'Oh, this is Yuko and Kazushi, by the way.' She informed me.

'Hey, did you say 2 – F?' I confirmed with Yuko. 'That's what class I'm in too, I could keep an eye on him if you wanted?'

'Really? You'd do that?' Yuko asked shocked. 'Thank you, I definitely owe you a coffee sometime!'

'You're a kind person, Arisato, have you thought about joining a club yet?' Rio asked me.

'No, not really.' I admitted. 'I just got here last night.'

'Too bad you can't join the Kendo club, you'd probably kick every guy's ass in there.' Yuko told me.

'You should totally join the Tennis club though, I'm the manager there.' Rio encouraged me.

'Sure thing.' I agreed with her.

Then something suddenly happened to me, I got a sudden headache and felt really dizzy, falling to the floor before them. This was one of the main reason I avoided becoming friends with people, this feeling. This feeling is that of a new bond forming with another person.

'I, am thou!'


	2. Chapter II: The Magician

**Chapter II: The Magician**

'I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when creating personas of the Chariot Arcana.'

A voice echoed within my head, knocking me back to reality where a boy was now stood with Rio. He offered me his hand, which I took and got back onto my feet. I looked around and shook my head slightly.

'Are you okay? What happened?' Rio questioned me.

'Oh, it's nothing really, it just happens sometimes is all.' I told her. 'Sorry to make you all worry so much.'

'You sure?' The boy asked me, concerned.

'Yeah.' I smiled to prove that I was okay. 'Who're you?'

'Junpei Iori, I was on the way to class when I overheard you guys talking and heard that we were in the same class.' He replied.

'Yeah right.' I heard Yukari's voice from behind as she walked between us. 'Don't pay him any attention, he's just a perv that would do anything for attention from any girl at this school.'

'Oh, I see.' I looked upon Junpei, my opinion of him shifted a bit.

'Come on, class is about to start anyway.' Yukari dragged me away from the crowd that was starting to gather.

I followed Yukari to class and I was forced to introduce myself to everyone. I had done this countless times before, so I pretty much knew the routine off by heart. The first day wasn't too demanding, as I was mostly getting to know the school. After school, I went straight back to the dorm to unpack my things, after denying Junpei the right to walk me home. When I got there, I signed in using the sign in sheet and went up to my room.

Whilst I was unpacking, my clothes revealed an old picture of my parents and me, which was taken when they were still alive. It gave me a warm feeling of nostalgia, as I thought back on the few memories that I had with them. I could never remember the details of their death, just that they died in an accident on the Moonlight Bridge, on the way home. I guess you could say that I've done nothing but try to forget since then. I finished unpacking and had an early night, waiting for the next day to come.

The next two days of school went by pretty quickly and I was finally starting to feel like a normal person again, like this really was the place for me. I decided to give Junpei a chance and he took me out for something to eat, which was not a date in the slightest. Then night came and I was in the process of studying when I looked out of my window, which displayed the full moon that was shining in a cloudless, black sky. I eventually crawled into bed and fell asleep, only to be awoken again by a sudden bang and smash of glass and wood breaking. I decided to get up and see what all of the noise was about, but I was interrupted by a loud and rapid knocking on my door.

'Hey, Minako? You in there?' Yukari was shouting through it, panicked. 'I'm sorry, but I'm coming in.'

She busted into my room, panting heavily. Something was definitely happening to the dorm, that's when I looked out of the window and noticed that it was The Dark Hour. However, this was the most noise that I had ever heard during this hour.

'Akihiko!' I heard Mitsuru shout from the stairs.

'Persona!' I heard a male voice shout.

Yukari looked back at me. 'We have to go, now!'

I didn't even bother to argue as my survival instincts kicked in. We had to get out of here, and we had to do it now. We both ran towards the stairs, before some sort of black mess holding swords came from downstairs. It swung and I grabbed hold of Yukari, ducking us both into some cover.

'Holy...' She was lost for words. 'Not that way, where now?'

'Calm down, there has to be somewhere we could go!' I tried to keep my cool.

I quickly tried to picture the dorm from the outside and remember everything that has happened up until now. Then it suddenly hit me, we could use the roof to jump to the next building and climb down the fire escape.

'The roof!' I shouted.

'What?' Yukari was panicking. 'Okay sure, I've got nothing better.'

We both ran as fast as we could and I noticed that Yukari was running out of steam, so we stopped for a quick moment. She mustn't be used to The Dark Hour yet, as it tires you out faster than the normal hours would. Not to mention that she was doing nothing to conserve her energy, she was going all out before a battle had even been initiated. Then the glass shattered behind her and she stumbled over to me as a black hand holding a blue mask came through. We looked at each other and ran for the roof, bursting through the door.

'Okay, we should be safe up here.' Yukari said, catching her breath. 'Now what?'

'We jump to the other building and escape down its fire escape.' I told her.

'What? Are you crazy? We'll never make it!' She shouted at me.

'I've jumped a gap like that before, trust me, it'll work.' I ensured her.

However, it was too late as multiple black hands dragged a black mass onto the roof and we were effectively cut off. Yukari quickly pulled out a gun a looked at me.

'These are our enemies, Shadows.' She informed me. 'Stay back!'

She put the gun to her forehead. 'Come on Yukari, you can do this.'

Then it suddenly came back to me, I've seen this before. I once traveled with someone who used that gun, an evoker which summoned her persona, the only thing that can fight back against strong Shadows like this one. Yukari was about to pull the trigger when the Shadow attacked her, knocking the evoker out of her hand and it slid over to my feet. The Shadow was about to finish off Yukari when I suddenly heard the same voice as earlier in my mind.

'I am thou.' It spoke.

I picked up the evoker and raised it to my head, as Yukari could only watch in awe. I've seen how a persona user fights, I can do this. What was the word that man shouted back in the dorm?

'Persona!' I shouted, summoning Orpheus.

He emerged and launched agi attacks at the Shadow, which didn't seem to hurt it, so it just attacked back and Orpheus was about to fall. However, I grasped desperately onto every ounce of power that my body could produce. I wasn't about to let someone else die in front of me, not again. Then Orpheus changed into another persona, which went berserk on the Shadow, tearing it to shreds and showing no mercy as it crushed the mass in front of me. Once it was defeated, a blue butterfly flew towards me and disappeared into me, shortly before I passed out.

I was suddenly taken through some sort of twisted elevator shaft and to a room that looked like an elevator with a Velvet twist. Before me stood a man with a long nose and another man who looked human, dressed in blue. It felt as if I was dreaming, but I was in full control of what I was doing in the dream.

'Welcome, to the Velvet Room.' The man with a long nose greeted me. 'I am Igor, and this here is Theodore.'

'Nice to meet you.' Theodore greeted me with a soft tone.

I looked around. 'Is this a dream?'

'In a sense of the term, yes.' Igor admitted. 'However, this is a place between dreams and reality, mind and matter.'

'I think I get it.' I tried to act like I knew what was happening.

'You have awakened to a special power indeed.' Igor chuckled to himself. 'The power of the Wild Card, it is like that of the number zero. Empty, yet full of opportunities.'

He then revealed a contract. 'You signed this contract, accepting responsibility for your actions.'

'It has been quite some time since we last had a guest with so much potential.' Theodore admitted.

'Indeed, you hold the ability to wield multiple personas.' Igor informed me. 'And I will help you by fusing these personas to create more powerful personas, using the strength of your social links. Surly you have felt this much by now.'

'You mean what happened after I became closer to Rio?' I asked him.

'Indeed, I cannot wait to see where this new power will take you.' Igor chuckled to himself again. 'I have kept you here long enough, it would be best if the next time you came here was of your own free will.'

Igor handed me a Velvet Key, which I assumed I would need if I ever wanted to come back here and make use of his powers. When I next woke up, days had past and I was in a hospital room, being monitored by a bunch of machinery. I looked to my side and saw Yukari sat down, waiting for me to wake up, so I sat up to greet her. She smiled when she noticed that I was awake and quickly rushed to my side.

'You're awake, thank goodness.' She let off a sigh of relief. 'How are you feeling?'

'Alright, what happened?' I asked her, confused.

'You awakened to your persona.' She answered.

'I mean after that.' I confirmed. 'I lost control and then the next thing I know, I'm waking up here.'

'We don't even know the answer to that.' She admitted. 'Well, I best let Mitsuru-senpi know that you're okay.'

She stood up and was about to leave when she stopped, turning around and coming to the end of my bed.

'I wanted you to know that, well, I'm like you.' She told me.

'What do you mean?' I asked her.

'I lost my father ten years ago too, he died in an accident and ever since then I haven't really been that close to my mom, so I've been pretty much alone, even after I moved to the dorms.' She confessed to me.

'What about Mitsuru-senpi?' I asked.

'She's way above me, all she cares about are Shadows and Student Council.' She rolled her eyes.

'I see, well my parents died ten years ago, but I'm guessing you already knew that.' I looked down.

'Sorry, we looked through your files and kept an eye on you, because we knew you had the potential.' Yukari admitted.

'Ah, I see.' I felt defeated. 'So someone who I thought was one of my few friends here, turned out to be just a spy, is that how it is?'

'No not at all.' Yukari came to my side. 'I felt really bad about the whole thing and thought it was wrong to spy on you, even ask Mitsuru-senpi. I really did like you though, you're a cool girl and we seem to share some common interests. I wasn't ordered to drag you away from Junpei, or help you out in class.'

'Yeah, I guess so.' I admitted.

'So, whadya say? Friends?' She asked hopefully.

'Yeah, sure thing Yukari-san.' I nodded in agreement.

'If we're friends, then we don't have to be so formal with eachother.' She laughed. 'Why don't we go shopping? I bet you need some new stuff to brighten up your room.'

'Sure, sounds good.' I smiled.

'We'll start over, a new slate, once you're out of the hospital of course.'

This time, I wasn't caught by surprise when an all too familiar voice rang inside of my head. With this, I knew that I had found a true friend within Yukari Takeba.

'I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when creating personas of the Lovers Arcana.'


	3. Chapter III: New Recruit

**Chapter III: New Recruit**

'We're meeting on the fourth floor today after school, don't be late.'

Mitsuru left the class as fast as she entered it, leaving myself and Yukari looking at eachother. A few days had passed and I had made a full recovery from my exhaustion, so I knew that it was only a matter of time before they asked me to join them. When I got to the fourth floor, there was a set of two, old looking wooden doors before me. I opened them and entered what looked like something out of the movies, which a huge bank of consoles and monitors lining one wall, and a seemingly endless amount of books on shelves lining the other. In the center of the room, sat Mitsuru, a guy that I could only assume was Akihiko from that night, Yukari and Ikutski, the chairman at the school and the one in charge of the dorm.

'Take a seat.' Ikutski smiled.

Mitsuru nodded and indicated to the chair at the end of the table, which felt like the chair of judgment when I sat on it and everyone's eyes were on me. There was a moment of silence, before Ikutski decided to speak up.

'Yukari here tells me that you were already familiar with the concept of Persona and Shadows, correct?' He confirmed with me.

'That's right, I've seen them both before, but that truly was the first time I used an evoker myself.' I told them the truth, which they seemed to be convinced by.

Ikutski laughed. 'Don't be so tense, this isn't an interrogation.'

Mitsuru stood up and revealed a metal suitcase, which she slid across the table and I caught at the end of it. I released the hatched and revealed its contents, my very own evoker, which looked like it had been polished and engraved with the initial S.E.E.S. I looked at it for a moment, then back up at Mitsuru.

'SEES stands for Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, we fight the Shadows using our Personas and use these dorms as our headquarters.' Mitsuru explained to me. 'We want you to join us.'

'When you say it like that, it sounds like she has no choice.' Yukari scoffed.

'I don't know about this, I've seen what these things can do.' I remembered how she died to the Shadows. 'They killed someone I cared dearly for, and I'd give anything to unsee that.'

'Why live in denial when you have the power to change the future for the better, end the suffering once and for all, for everyone.' Ikutski spoke like he had revised those lines for this moment.

'Denial? Heh, the hell do you know?' I turned my back and was about to leave when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

'I know that we need you, Arisato.' Mitsuru spoke, so I turned to face her. 'I know that you're not like any other persona user I've encountered. I know that you were planning to stay with us, otherwise you wouldn't have made plans with Takeba.'

I sighed. 'Fine, I'll fight, for now.'

I walked back to the table and picked up the evoker and holster for it, fastening the holster under my school shirt and placing it inside. I looked at everyone and my glare stopped on Akihiko, who was smiling to himself.

'You finally get to stick it to the Shadows, sounds exciting huh?' He asked me.

'Akihiko please.' Mitsuru rolled her eyes. 'You were hurt fighting them just the other day.'

'Whatever.' He replied.

'Well I'm glad that we settled that matter.' Ikutski stood up. 'Now, some tea would be nice.'

Before I left, Mitsuru handed me a SEES red and black armband, which officially made me one of them. I went back to my room and placed the armband on my dresser, as there was no use in tying it to anything now. I sat on my bed and looked at the picture of my parents, thinking to myself. There was another picture I brought with me, but I didn't really have the courage to take it out of my bag yet, until now. I reached inside my bag and revealed a picture of her, the one who died to the Shadows saving my life. She was like the sister I never had, I cared about her more than anything else in the world and they took her away from me. I placed the picture next to the one of my parents and looked into it.

I sighed. 'Am I really doing the right thing here, choosing to fight back against them?'

I slowly fell asleep and soon enough, the next day came. It was Sunday, so I decided to try and find Yukari and see if she wanted to follow up on the offer she made me. However, before I managed to leave my room, there was a knock on the door so I opened it and Yukari was stood there, ready to go out, wearing a pink jacket. I was still in my nightwear and my hair was a mess from the shower, so I wasn't exactly ready to go out just yet.

'Oh, sorry, I didn't realize you hadn't gotten dressed yet.' She apologized.

'It's fine, come in.' I invited her in, shutting the door behind her.

She looked around. 'Wow, this room is more plain than I thought.'

'Well I haven't exactly had time to go shopping, what with me fighting Shadows and being in the hospital.' I told her.

She looked at me in silence and I laughed.

'I was messing with you, lighten up a bit.' I said as I entered the bathroom to dry my hair and get dressed.

'Sorry, I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping and brighten this place up a bit, like we said in the hospital.' She invited me out.

'Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing.' I shouted from the bathroom.

Yukari giggled. 'Great minds think alike.'

'I suppose so.' I walked out of the bathroom, ready.

Yukari moved over to my picture of my sister and looked at it. 'Who's this?'

'None of your business.' I suddenly got serious.

She put the picture down. 'Right, sorry. Are you ready?'

I put on my jacket and we headed out to Paulownia Mall, where we browsed the stores and got a few things that we thought looked cute. After hours of shopping and girly chat, we eventually found ourselves at Chagall Cafe for a coffee and brownie. It arrived and Yukari looked at the brownie, debating with herself weather she should actually eat it or not.

'You've paid for it now.' I told her.

'I know, but I need to stop eating sweets before I start putting weight on.' She argued.

'Then I'll eat it.' I told her.

'No! I don't want you to put weight on either, I'll eat it.' She concluded.

She took a mouthful and clearly wanted to eat it in the first place, complimenting how good it was. I looked at her and thought about how I snapped in my room earlier, just because she was curious about a picture I had out.

'I'm sorry about earlier, when you asked about the picture.' I apologized.

'It's fine, I shouldn't have been so nosy.' She laughed it off.

'Her name was Sasaki Yoka.' I admitted. 'She was my best friend and the closest thing I ever had to an older sister. She awakened to her Persona when Shadows attacked us during The Dark Hour, they grabbed me and she got scared, unleashing her new powers.'

'Wow, what happened to her?' She asked.

'She died.' I finally admitted the truth. 'We managed to find an evoker in the streets one day and moved from city to city since then, school to school, before the Shadows finally caught up to us, knocking me to the ground. I thought that I was going to die there and then, but she killed it, only to be met by several stronger one's that eventually overwhelmed her.'

'I'm so sorry, Minako.' She looked down.

'Ever since then, I've been scarred to make another friendship.' I continued. 'Fearing that it would end in the same way.'

'I don't want to loose you either, as I consider you a friend too, Minako.' Yukari admitted. 'So, why don't we look out for eachother, make sure that neither one of us dies, deal?'

I looked at her for a moment. 'Yeah, I guess I have to move on one day, don't I?'

We finished our coffee and brownie, eventually returning to our normal selves after that rather depressing topic, and made one last trip around the mall before deciding to head back to the dorm as it was starting to get dark. We walked through the streets and watched as the sun set behind the skyline of the city, entering the dorms and sitting down in the lounge with Mitsuru, who was reading a book. I decided to go to the kitchen and get a drink of water.

'Welcome back.' Mitsuru greeted us.

'Thanks, what's on TV?' Yukari asked as I entered the kitchen.

'Nothing that takes my interest, feel free to browse.' Mitsuru answered.

I walked back into the lounge with the water and sat down next to Yukari. 'Where's Akihiko?'

'He said that he had something to take care of, so my guess is causing trouble.' Mitsuru smiled to herself.

Yukari seemed to be watching a cooking show. 'I wish I could cook as good as these guys. Can you cook, Minako?'

'I'm no master chef, but I know how to cook a few dishes.' I admitted.

'Is that so?' Mitsuru raised an eyebrow. 'You should show us sometime, I don't think Akihiko's diet consists of anything more than Ramen, so it'd be good for him.'

'Maybe some day.' I laughed.

Suddenly, there was some clattering and grunting coming from outside, which caught all of our attention. Yukari rushed over to the door to check it out, and Akihiko came through, looking like he was annoyed at something.

'Akihiko, what's with all this commotion?' Mitsuru inquired.

'Good, you're all here, we have a new recruit.' He answered.

'A new recruit?' I asked.

'Come on, hurry it up will ya?' He shouted to someone outside.

'Alright, alright, it's hard to drag all this stuff around ya know?' An all too familiar voice shouted back.

Mitsuru and I got up and joined Yukari in looking at what seemed to be someone failing to push a giant, silver suitcase up the stairs. Eventually he managed to push it through the doors, and it revealed an exhausted Junpei, who was resting on top of it. Akihiko closed the doors behind him and turned to the rest of us, who just looked at Junpei with disgust.

'No way!' Yukari gasped. 'HE, has the potential? HIM?'

'Junpei, seriously?' I questioned his actions.

'As you may know, this is Junpei Iori of class 2 – F.' Akihiko introduced him. 'He may not look like much right now, but he has the potential and with the right training, could be a real help against them.'

'Very well, I suppose I'll have to trust in your judgment here, Akihiko.' Mitsuru kept switching glances between Junpei and Akihiko.

'Hey, wassup? Akihiko-senpi found me the other night, crying like a baby in the middle of a convenience store, surrounded by coffins.' Junpei finally caught his breath. 'I was surprised to find out that you guys were here, but it makes sense now that I think about it. Boy am I glad to have someone I know out there though, it can get kinda lonely.'

'Yeah, I know the feeling.' I admitted.

'I bet you're stoked about having me join the team too, huh?' He excitedly indicated towards myself and Yukari.

'Yeah right.' Yukari rolled her eyes. 'Well, no more answering the door half naked anymore then, Minako.'

'Say what now?' Junpei was suddenly interested in the topic.

'Why'd you have to bring that up in front of those two, especially Junpei.' I turned to her and let of a slight laugh.

'What's this about?' Akihiko asked.

'She answered her door this morning in her nightwear.' Yukari explained.

'Great, now I'll have Junpei knocking on my door every morning.' I sighed. 'Thanks Yukari.'

'Whaaat? I would never do that!' Junpei attempted to deceit us.

'Why would he do that?' Mitsuru asked.

'Because he's the biggest perv in the school and would do anything to sneak a peak at any girl in anything other than the Gekkoukan uniform.' Yukari explained.

'Is that so?' Mitsuru looked Junpei in the eyes. 'If I find you roaming the girl's floor corridor, I will see to it personally, that you are executed!'


	4. Chapter IV: The Priestess

**Chapter IV: The Priestess**

So it was made official, Junpei was now a part of SEES and given his own evoker and wristband. The next day, we were told to keep rested and report to the lounge in the evening. School dragged and I was tempted to fall asleep during my afternoon classes, but I managed to keep my eyes open thankfully, as the teacher made a key point that related to the upcoming tests, which somehow made me feel slightly smarter. After School, I walked home with Junpei and Yukari and we just rested in the lounge and waited for the evening to come, as requested. It was starting to get late when Mitsuru and Akihiko came back together.

'Alright, with this many people, I think that we can finally start exploring Tartarus.' Akihiko said excitedly.

'Tartarus? Sounds like toothpaste.' Junpei stated, confused.

'It's a breeding ground for the Shadows, their nest.' Akihiko chuckled to himself.

'Don't get too excited Akihiko, you won't be going with them, you'll be staying in the entrance with me.' Mitsuru stated.

'Why? I need to keep training if I want to get stronger.' He protested.

'Do you want to make those injuries worse?' She quickly shot him down.

Akihiko sighed and admitted defeat. 'Fine.'

'Right, then we'll head there for midnight then.' She concluded.

I guessed that we didn't really have much choice in this, so I agreed and waited to head there. Eventually, we set out and I couldn't help but think about what this place must be like, a breeding ground for Shadows? Maybe this is the key to their existence, and we can truly end them here once and for all. It would also be handy to have a place to train our personas, as I had a feeling that Mitsuru and Akihiko were the only people here that had actually fought the Shadows before and summoned their personas confidently. We finally reached the school gates of Gekkoukan High School and stopped at Mitsuru's command, who turned around.

'Well, we're here.' She confirmed my thoughts.

'Wait, this is our school?' Junpei pointed out.

'Well observed.' Akihiko stated. 'In a few minutes, this place is going to transform into Tartarus.'

'Why our school though?' I asked.

'We don't know, but we have a feeling that the truth behind the Shadows lie within it.' Mitsuru answered.

'Wait, so you guys haven't actually been inside yourselves?' Yukari asked.

'Well, no.' Mitsuru admitted. 'Only to look around.'

We waited in silence for a moment and then the ground started rumbling, turning my attention to the school which started shaking before us. Was this an earthquake? Then before I knew it, the school started growing upwards and randomly spurting out chunks that represented sections and floors of the tower. It finally stopped and we walked inside of the gates, where I looked up at the seemingly endless height of it. This was Tartarus.

Once we got inside, Mitsuru lined up Junpei, Yukari and myself and stood in front of us, with Akihiko resting against the banister of the huge staircase that led to what I could only assume to be the entrance to Tartarus. She cleared her voice and our attention shifted from what our school had just become, towards her.

'Consider this training day, Mitsuru will teach you the basics and it's up to you to learn the rest.' Akihiko told us straight.

'Thank you, Akihiko, can you set up the equipment now please.' Mitsuru dismissed him. 'Now, the weapons before you are specially made by Kirijo, allowing you to do damage to small Shadows with them. Now, take your pick.'

She moved out of the way and revealed a Sword, Naginata and Bow. The Naginata immediately caught my attention, so I took a step towards it and picked it up, feeling its weight. It was surprisingly light, so I took a few steps away from everyone and practiced using it.

'You like that one, Mi-chan?' Junpei asked me.

'Please don't give me stupid nicknames.' I requested him. 'But yeah, I like the idea of a long reach weapon.'

'Great, well it only makes sense that Yukari used a bow and I wanted the sword anyway.' He replied.

'That worked out nicely.' Yukari stated. 'It's almost as if Mitsuru-senpi predicted what weapons we would have wanted.'

'In a sense, I did.' She admitted. 'I just analyzed your personalities and had weapons made that matched them.'

'What's that mean?' Junpei asked.

'You can blindly swing and hope for the best with a Sword, a Naginata requires a more elegant and thoughtful approach, whereas Yukari's practice in the Archery club makes a bow the ideal choice for her.' Akihiko explained.

'Alright, now head inside and I'll explain further.' Mitsuru instructed us. 'But first, we need to appoint a leader to make any necessary decisions in the field.'

'Oh me, me me me, pick me!' Junpei begged like a kid.

'I like the look of her.' Akihiko pointed towards me.

'Seconded, you're in charge Arisato.' Mitsuru concluded.

'What? Why are you putting a girl in charge?' Junpei protested.

Akihiko stepped right in front of Junpei and looked him in the eyes. 'Tell me Junpei, can you summon your persona confidently and without delay, like she can?'

'O-of course I can, easy.' He trembled.

'My point has been made.' Akihiko concluded'

'Remember, your personas are your trump cards and you'll have to use them on the bigger Shadows in there.' Mitsuru summed up our training. 'Oh and Iori, if you ever say anything demeaning to Arisato's position because she is a woman again, and you'll have me to answer to.'

With that, we were allowed to leave and begin our training and exploration of Tartarus. To start with, some small Shadows approached with some bigger Shadows lurking in the background, this was a perfect opportunity for me to test this Naginata. I led the attack, Yukari and Junpei following my lead, and we made short work of them. Now onto the bigger Shadows, which were now making a charge towards us. Junpei summoned his persona, Hermes, but his Agi attacks were brushed off and he was knocked backwards.

'Be mindful of the enemy's strengths and weaknesses, exploiting their weaknesses will be the key to a swift victory.' Mitsuru's voice echoed through my head. 'Feel free to use me for this purpose.'

'Right.' I replied.

Yukari then proceeded to summon her persona, Io and used Garu attacks on the Shadow. However, it was too fast and caught her off guard. Now both Yukari and Junpei were out of action, it was up to me to put all of my training to good use. I summoned Orpheus, standing straight and looking the Shadow in its yellow eyes, using Bash attacks, which seemed to be effective against it. It then moved for a counter attack, to which I raised my Naginata and rolled under it, avoiding the attack and doing some damage to it at the same time. I then finished the move with a back flip and one final summon of Orpheus, who finished the Shadows off.

'What was that?' Junpei asked.

'That was how a true persona user fights.' Yukari answered him. 'That flip at the end was amazing though.'

'I was taught it by Sasaki.' I went quiet for a moment after hearing that name. 'She said that it was a good way to avoid enemy follow up attacks and regain your posture at the same time.'

'Wow, you'll have to teach me sometime.' Yukari told me, truly impressed with my performance.

'Well done Arisato, Takeba, Iori. Always be mindful of the time though, you only have an hour until Tartarus disappears with The Dark Hour and I'd rather not be stuck in here during the day.' Mitsuru reminded us. 'Let's go home for today.'

With that, we left Tartarus and headed back to the dorm as The Dark Hour came to an end, leaving our weapons behind in the lobby. I was made the temporary battle leader for our training sessions and we continued to get stronger over the days until one night we were summoned to the command room on the fourth floor during The Dark Hour, which could only mean one thing, Shadow emergency. Yukari, Junpei and myself came running into the command room, ready for action.

'We're here, what is it?' Yukari asked.

'We've detected a large Shadow reading from the monorails, we think it's like the one that attacked the dorm.' Mitsuru explained the situation.

'Wow, really?' Junpei asked. 'Then let's kick its ass!'

'The three of you will be deployed to respond to the threat, I will support you from the station, Arisato will take field command again and Akihiko will stay here with the chairman.' Mitsuru summed up the plan for us.

'Her again?' I heard Junpei mutter to himself.

'What? No way!' Akihiko exclaimed. 'I'm coming too!'

'Akihiko! We are not having this conversation right now! You are staying here!' Mitsuru ordered him.

After that display of Mitsuru's authority over him, there was little resistance from Akihiko, so we headed to the monorail. When we got there, Mitsuru revealed that the signal was coming from one of the carts on the tracks, which meant that we had to walk on the tracks to get to it. Thankfully, no electronic equipment was operable during The Dark Hour, including the monorail, so we were free to do so. As we approached it, the doors were wide open which I found a little strange but didn't think to question until we got inside. When we did, Yukari looked outside at the full moon that was bigger than ever and shining bright down upon us.

'It's a full moon tonight, huh?' She asked rhetorically.

'Wait, if this cart isn't supposed to be operable and it was mid transition when The Dark Hour hit, then why were the doors wide open like that?' I finally asked.

'Good point.' Junpei agreed.

Suddenly, the doors all slammed shut and the monorail powered up and started moving forward, slowly picking up its speed.

'What the? Why are we moving?' Yukari questioned the situation.

'The Shadow seemed to have taken control of the monorail and it's due to collide with another soon, so you have to hurry and stop it!' Mitsuru ordered us.

'No pressure huh?' I said sarcastically.

'I hate how she's always like that.' Yukari made a snide comment about Mitsuru.

'You do realize that she can hear you, right?' I told her.

Before anyone could say anything, a Shadow jumped down out of nowhere. It seemed to taunt us and then turned around and went through the door.

'Quick, it's getting away!' Junpei exclaimed.

'Wait Junpei, we shouldn't rush into this. It could be a trap.' I pointed out.

'I agree with Arisato, use extreme caution when approaching this enemy.' Mitsuru agreed.

'The hell with this, I'll take care of it myself!' He shouted back.

With that, Junpei charged the enemy like an idiot, so we tried to catch up to him, but we were intercepted by two Shadows that jumped down out of nowhere. We made short work of them and Yukari got in front of me, which is when two more Shadows jumped in front of me and another two in front of Yukari, cutting us off from supporting eachother. That's when I realized that they were trying to pick us off one by one, so I used Orpheus to quickly unite the two of us and we agreed to stick together as we made our way to Junpei. We eventually caught up to him in the front car and he was standing before what I assumed was our main target. It was a huge black and white woman, wearing the bottom half of her dress with the initials BJ on both of her breasts. It looked like she was attached to the monorail and it started to get dangerously fast.

'We have to quickly defeat this thing!' I shouted. 'Or we're either going to derail or crash into the train in front!'

'Right.' Yukari looked towards Junpei. 'Look out Junpei!'

However, Junpei was slammed against the wall and knocked unconscious. It was his own fault, but this fight was now going to be way harder without his support. I let Yukari take point on the attack, as she drew its attention, allowing me to exploit its opening, using Orpheus' Agi attacks on it.

'Watch out Yukari!' I shouted.

I quickly pushed Yukari to the side, taking a major hit for her. I knelt on the floor and she rushed over, but this wasn't over yet. No way was I going to let some Shadow ruin my chance to prove myself in battle for Mitsuru and Akihiko, just because it was a little bigger than the rest. That's when I quickly rolled out of the way of its follow up attack, my Naginata sliding across the floor towards the door. Yukari used the Media support cast which allowed me to make a recovery, to which I used Bash to knock it off balance and Yukari used Garu to hold it in position, whilst I ran back to my Naginata and picked it up, lunging straight into it. It was finally over, the Arcana Priestess was defeated. However, the monorail was still going faster.

'Why are we still moving?' Yukari asked, panicking.

'I don't know.' I responded.

'You have to stop it now!' Mitsuru ordered us. 'You're about to collide!'

I ran to the control room and pushed the transmogrified coffin out of the way so I could take a look at the controls for this thing. It seemed like slow motion as I could see the monorail in front of us, so I used logic and instincts, pulling the nearest and biggest level up as hard as I possibly could, eventually bringing the monorail to a full stop, just as it tapped the monorail in front of us. Everyone and the city was now safe for now.

'How did you know which one to pull?' Yukari asked me.

'I didn't.' I tried to catch my breath. 'I just used my instincts combined with pure dumb luck.'

'Well done everyone, the city and its people are now safe thanks to you three.' Mitsuru let off a sigh of relief.

 **Sorry that this chapter was so much longer than the others. The exploration of Tartarus lasted longer than I thought it would and I didn't want the Priestess fight to look rushed at the end, but needed it in this Chapter, hope y'all don't mind.**


	5. Chapter V: What are you Fighting for?

**Chapter V: What are you Fighting for?**

We returned to the dorms and I was too tired to stay up with the others, so I decided to head straight for bed. Despite my tiredness, my body refused to sleep, I couldn't stop thinking for some reason. When Junpei ran off back there, it made me realize something that I hadn't thought of before. He put us all in danger and I went after him, not because I wanted to, but because I felt like I had to otherwise the others would never forgive me. Then it hit me that every time we go onto the battlefield, everyone's lives are being placed in my hands. What if someone was to die because of a decision I made? I would never be able to live with myself if that ever happened...

We continued to go to school as normal, like nothing happened, but I was distracted, questioning my loyalties. I was walking out of the school gates after school when Akihiko shouted me, so I stopped and walked with him, avoiding the constant glares and evil eyes being pointed my way from every other girl in the school. Looking at him from first glance, you would never guess that Akihiko had his own harem at Gekkoukan.

'Hey, walk to the mall with me, I need to show you something.' He ordered me.

'Right, sure thing.' I told him, avoiding eye contact.

'The Doctor said that I should be able to start training again soon.' He told me.

'That's good.' I replied.

'Exams are coming up too, so you should start studying unless you want Mitsuru on your case.' He added.

'She's not my mother, but I know, thanks.' I told him.

'Sorry, I didn't mean it that way.' He apologized.

'There's no need to apologize, it's just that I was hoping to be alone today is all.' I admitted to him.

'Oh, we can do this another day.' He responded.

'We're there now, so let's get it other with.' I replied.

Akihiko led me inside of the mall and to the police station, which caught me by surprise. There, I met an officer called Kurosawa, who was apparently helping SEES by supplying them with weapons shipped from Kirijo. When questioned about it, he wasn't a persona user but knew that something wasn't right in the city, so he was just doing what he thought was best for the people. Once outside, Akihiko stopped me before I walked away.

'Hey, I know you need to be alone right now, but can we talk when you get back to the dorm?' He asked me.

'Sure thing, I just need to think about some stuff is all.' I told him.

'Great, see ya later then.' He waved me off.

I wondered around the mall, window shopping and looking on at the other students from Gekkoukan having fun without a worry in the world. I envy those people. I eventually came back around to the fountain in the middle of the main part of the mall, outside of the police station and a girl with green hair was getting hassled by another two girls, all of them wearing the Gekkoukan High uniform. I couldn't just stand there watching, I hated bullies, so I decided to do something about them.

'Where's my homework, Yamagishi?' One of the girls asked abruptly.

'Yeah Fuuka, where is it?' The other chirped in.

'I haven't gotten around to it yet, sorry Natsuki-san.' She responded to them.

'Well hurry up will ya, I need to write it up in my writing before I can hand it in.' Natsuki responded.

'Here's an idea!' I called her out. 'Why don't you do your own damn homework?'

The three girls turned to face me and I got closer to Natsuki, unintentionally shielding Fuuka, who just stayed silent.

'Who the hell are you?' Natsuki asked me.

'None of your business, why are you harassing her?' I asked back.

'Why don't you just learn to mind your own damn business?' She took a step forward. 'Now scram before I toss you out like yesterday's garbage.'

She attempted to intimidate me, but I held my ground. Seeing that I wasn't moving anywhere anytime soon, she then turned to violence and a crowd was starting to gather around her. She pushed me and attempted to hit me, but I caught her fist and quickly put her in an arm lock, placing my mouth right by her ear.

'I've dealt with bigger, more intimidating and admittedly uglier things than you, and I've had a really shitty weak.' I whispered to her. 'No doubt, she's had a worse one no thanks to you, so move along before things get worse for you.'

I released her and she stumbled backwards, her friend catching her. She kicked Fuuka's bag over, spilling books on the floor, before taking her leave. I helped her pick up her books and sat on the bench next to her, looking at the roof contemplating life for the first time.

'Erm... T-Thank you... F-for what you did.' She stuttered, nervously.

'Don't mention it, I hate bullies.' I told her.

'Well they're not really bullies.' She corrected me. 'I just told her that I'd do her homework and then didn't, so she got mad, it's my fault really.'

'Yamagishi, was it? What kind of lame excuse is that? Why would you put up with her crap?' I questioned her.

'Fuuka. She doesn't get that mad usually, it's the last assignment before exams, so she has to hand it in.' She responded. 'Besides, she's a precious friend so I want to do anything I can to help her.'

'A precious friend, huh?' I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment. 'Hey Fuuka, can I ask you something?'

'Sure thing, you never told them your name.' She pointed out.

'Arisato, Minako, 2 – F, they didn't deserve to know it.' I told her. 'Anyway, If you're fighting a battle for someone because you feel like you have to and you feel like the friendships you have with these people aren't real, then would you continue to fight?'

'For me personally, my friends matter more than anything else in the world. If you think that they aren't your real friends and you're forced to fight, then I wouldn't fight personally.' She gave me her view.

'Thank you Fuuka, you've really helped me out there.' I praised her. 'Don't let anyone ever get you down again, because you're better than them, anyone would be lucky to have you as a friend.'

'I didn't do much, just told you my thoughts.' She modestly stated.

'Don't be so modest.' I stood up. 'I should head back now, if you ever need me, don't be scared to call or catch me after school.'

'Alright, thank you Minako-san.' She bowed slightly.

'I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when creating personas of the Priestess Arcana.'

I knew what had to be done now, I couldn't carry this on any longer, I needed to find something to fight for, or stop fighting altogether. I slowly walked back to the dorm and when I entered the lounge, everyone was sitting around watching TV and doing there own thing. I signed in and joined them, by reading the newspaper on the desk.

'The number of Apathy Syndrome victims are starting to increase again.' Mitsuru pointed out.

'I see.' I read the article on it. 'You wanted to talk about something senpi?'

'Oh yeah.' Akihiko stopped polishing his gloves. 'I'll be back in action soon, but we want you to keep running things on the field.'

'No.' I suddenly spoke without realizing it.

'What? But you're doing a flawless job out there.' Mitsuru protested.

'Why am I doing it though?' I asked them. 'Junpei clearly doesn't want me running things for one.'

'Me? What did I do?' Junpei tried to play dumb.

'I'm not deaf, Iori, I heard what you said when I was chosen to lead during the monorail incident, you made yourself pretty damn clear on the matter.' I snapped at him.

'What? You said what, Junpei?' Akihiko shouted.

'You're not seriously going to back down because of something he said, are you?' Yukari finally spoke up.

'Then there's you, Mitsuru-senpi.' I was fired up now. 'You act like the Shadows are all that matter and you don't really give a damn about us, so long as we come back alive and with a victory, you're okay aren't you?'

'Well, I...' Mitsuru was speechless.

'All Akihiko cares about is fighting and doesn't even care enough to ask me if I'm okay when I say I'm not having a good day.' I was on a roll now. 'Yukari is the only person that really gives a damn here and looks at more than just the Shadows, so why don't you put her in charge? Oh wait, I forgot, she's a girl. Sorry, Iori!'

With that, I stormed out of the room and left every last one of them speechless. I had been keeping in touch with Rio for a while now and she was even giving me unauthorized training sessions for the Tennis club, she's a true friend and even offered me refuge at her place if things got too much for me at the dorm. I figured I'd ring her in the morning and stay at her place until I sorted out the transfer documents to the regular dorms. In the night, I was awoken during The Dark Hour by the boy that I saw when I first got here.

'Hello, it seems that you are facing some troubles.' He spoke in a soft tone.

'Who the hell are you? How did you get in here?' I questioned him.

'You don't know?' He was confused. 'I am inside of you, and not the strangest thing you've seen since arriving here.'

'True, what do you want?' I asked him.

'To warn you that if you abandon your friends here, then you will forever be dooming them.' He warned me.

'Thanks, but they aren't my friends.' I firmly told him.

'Are they not? Then why do you share a bond with one of them still?' He asked me. 'Think on that, will you not? However, I must be going now, so farewell.'

I fell back asleep and woke up early the next morning, it was Sunday and exams started tomorrow, but I hadn't had much chance to study for them recently. I was lucky that these weren't the finals, so I began to pack my essentials after confirming that I had a place with Rio when I was interrupted by a knock on the door, but I didn't want to talk to anyone so I ignored it.

'It's me, Yukari, let me in Minako, please.' Yukari begged me.

'It's open!' I shouted to her.

She walked around and immediately saw that I was packing, which got her panicked.

'Junpei's staying in his room this morning.' She told me. 'What are you doing?'

'Moving out, I can't fight like this.' I told her.

'I understand what you said last night, but I need you here.' She begged me. 'We're friends, remember!'

'I know we are, we always will be as far as I'm concerned.' I told her.

'Where will you go?' She asked.

'A friends until I can move to the regular dorms.' I told her.

'Then I'll come with you! I don't want to fight if they're forcing you out like this!' She shouted.

'No, they need you here.' I quickly replied. 'You have a lot of potential, and if you use it wisely, you'll become a force to be reckoned with Yukari, give this to Mitsuru-senpi, will ya?'

I handed her the silver case with my evoker and SEES armband in it and slung the backpack full of my essentials over my shoulder, bidding Yukari farewell. When I got down to the lounge, Mitsuru didn't even glance at me, just continued reading her book in silence whilst Akihiko watched from the dining room as I left. I took one last look at the dorm and sighed, before meeting up with Rio. At the time, I didn't know if that was a sigh of relief, regret, or both...


	6. Chapter VI: The Investigation Team

**Hey y'all, I just want to specify that the title for this chapter meant as a reference to P4, none of the investigation team will be showing up in this FF.**

 **Chapter VI: The Investigation Team**

I somehow managed to pass the week of exams with relative ease, I guess I was one of those lucky few that didn't need to revise too much before an exam. The next day at school, I walked with Rio and did my best to avoid eye contact with SEES, but I couldn't help having this small feeling that I was abandoning Yukari. When lunchtime came, I went to the roof with Rio, Yuko and Kazushi and starting eating my boxed lunch with them. I knew it was only a matter of time before the topic came up, so I decided to bring it up myself rather than be caught off guard by them.

'Thanks for letting me sleep at yours for the past week, Rio.' I thanked her.

'No problem, you're lucky my parents are out of town for a while so I didn't have to clear it with them.' She responded with a smile.

'You guys had a sleepover without me? No fair!' Yuko complained.

'It's nothing like that.' Rio looked at me and then her again. 'She's been having some issues at the dorms, so I told her that she could stay at mine until she moved to the regular dorms, things have been busy with exams.'

'I see, what happened?' Yuko asked, interested.

'I got into a big fight with them and basically, I can't stay there anymore.' I partly told her the truth.

'It must have been pretty serious for you to have to leave altogether.' Kazushi finally spoke up.

'Yeah, well I-'

My words faded away as I saw Yukari stood at the door. When I made eye contact with her, she turned and walked the other way. I chased after her, calling her name and we walked down the senior classroom corridor before I managed to get her to stop and listen to me.

'Yukari!' I shouted at her. 'Listen to me, will ya!'

'Why should I?' She was on the brink of tears. 'You're just yet another person in my life who's going to abandon me!'

'What? I'm not abandoning you.' I tried to reason with her.

'Yes you are, and you know it!' She shouted. 'Well, I don't need this. We'll continue fighting without you, you're unreliable at this point anyway!'

With that, she stormed off and I saw Mitsuru looking at me from one of the classrooms, so I just walked past her and back to my own class. When I saw Yukari again, she completely blanked me and an all too familiar voice echoed within my head, which caught me by surprise because I hadn't done anything but sit down.

'An Arcana hath been shattered. A widening distance is spreading between thy. Thy shall no longer be blessed when creating personas of the Lovers Arcana.'

I wasn't the one who shattered this bond, so why should I be the one to fix it? I continued like normal and after school, I overheard Akihiko talking about SEES with the others, so I decided to listen in on them without them knowing about it.

'Just because one member leaves, that doesn't mean that we should stop fighting them, they're still out there.' He told them all.

'Agreed, I think you should look into this ghost story and see if there are any truths behind it.' Mitsuru suggested.

'Yeah, it is our duty to protect the people of this city, after all.' Junpei seemed happy to say.

'I suppose so, I'll prove that it isn't true though!' Yukari spoke with determination.

The next day on the roof, everyone was unusually silent whilst eating, until Yuko finally spoke up.

'So, did you hear about it?' She asked us.

'Yeah, another student relating to that Yamagishi suddenly was found unconscious.' Rio pointed out.

'Really? That's Karma for you, I guess.' I told them.

'Something's not right though.' Yuko bit her lip before continuing. 'Yamagishi is in my class and she's been marked as absent due to illness, but she hasn't been seen since yesterday.'

'That is strange.' Kazushi agreed.

'Have her parents filed a missing person report with the police yet?' I asked.

'Not that I know of.' Yuko replied.

'Why would they do that when she could be in danger, she suffers enough as it is!' I raised my voice.

'You know her?' Rio asked.

'Kind of, I stepped in for her when some bullies were giving her a hard time.' I told them.

'Why don't we look into the case then?' Kazushi suggested. 'If the police haven't been informed and she's in danger, we should act before something happens to her.'

'Investigate? Like an Investigation Team?' Yuko asked.

'Investigation Team, I like it.' Rio agreed. 'You in, Minako?'

'Of course, if something's happened to her, then I have to be there for her.' I agreed to help.

'Great, we'll meet up at my house tomorrow then.' Rio suggested.

The next day, we met up at Rio's house and discussed what information we could gather. By the sounds of things, this was starting to turn more and more into an 'inexpiable' case, which meant Shadows. She was locked in the school gym overnight and was never seen again, then people started passing out in front of the school. This meant that Fuuka had to be somewhere in Tartarus, which meant I would need my evoker if I was going to act. That meant that I needed to sneak back into the dorms somehow.

'I need to get in the dorms.' I told them. 'And I need your help to do it.'

'You want to break into the dorms?' Yuko asked, shocked.

'It's not breaking in if you have the keys now, is it?' I said, dangling the keys in front of them.

'Why though?' Kazushi asked.

'There's something in there that I'll need if I want to save Fuuka.' I told them. 'I can't tell you what it is. You'll just have to trust me for now, we're friends after all aren't we?'

'Yeah, you're right Minako, let's do this!' Kazushi said.

'I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when creating personas of the Emperor Arcana.'

'Yeah, we're friends forever, I'm with you too!' Yuko agreed.

'I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when creating personas of the Hierophant Arcana.'

'Thanks guys, I really needed that vote of confidence from you guys.' I bowed slightly to them.

'Y-you don't need to be like that, it's nothing, really.' Kazushi blushed.

'Right, so what's the plan then?' Rio asked me.

'We sneak in at night, through the back door so we can avoid detection from the lounge.' I explained my thoughts to them. 'If we get caught, I'm sure Ms Student Council President will punish us, so let's try to avoid that if possible.'

'Right, let's do this then, leader!' Yuko shouted.

'Leader? I like the sound of that.' Kazushi added.

'Yes! Now I'm pumped for this, let's go team!' Rio cheered us on. 'I'll follow your lead, leader.'

Leader? Suddenly I was reminded of the night on the monorail, when I led a group of people to save the city and its people from the Shadows. Dammit, why was I thinking of that now, I needed to focus if we were to pull this off without being caught. We got to the dorms and went in through the back door, using my keys. However, when we got to the third floor, we heard voices coming from the floor above. Apparently everyone was gathered in the command room, so I decided to stay and listen in to their conversation.

'All right, tonight we break into Gekkoukan High School and find the keys for the gym, Iori has already provided us with a means of entering.' I heard Mitsuru's voice.

'They're breaking into the school?' Rio whispered.

'Why? And what would they want with the gym?' Yuko whispered.

'I don't know.' I whispered back. 'Here, take these and go hide in my room, the furthest down the hall and I'll keep an eye on them.'

They all nodded in agreement and went to my room, leaving me to listen into the conversation upstairs by myself.

'Fuuka Yamagishi is trapped there, and we will be performing a search and rescue mission to find her.' Mitsuru continued. 'So Akihiko will take command of Iori and enter Tartarus through the gym, whilst Takeba stays with me in the lobby, in case something goes wrong.'

'What about her?' Akihiko asked.

'We don't need her, we can do this ourselves.' Yukari suddenly got mad.

'I feel bad about making her flip out like that though.' He replied.

'Me too, but what's done is done.' Junpei agreed.

'Our duty is to protect the people of this city.' Mitsuru spoke up. 'Do not let your thoughts regarding Arisato loose sight on your objective.'

'Let's go then, before it gets too late.' Yukari said, opening the doors fully.

I quickly put my back against the wall and held my breath, hiding in the Shadows as the four of them walked down the stairs and to the bottom, leaving the dorms. If they were going to rescue Fuuka now, then I didn't really need to be here, so I got the others and pretended like I got what I needed, so we left. I was resting in bed at Rio's house when the boy from before woke me up during The Dark Hour again. I say he woke me up, but I wasn't really sleeping much. I got out of bed and stood to meet him.

'You again?' I confirmed his presence.

'Yes, I came to tell you.' The boy looked me in the eyes. 'Your friends are about to face two trials this time.'

'What do you mean?' I asked him.

'They seemed to have rescued the girl with relative ease. This is good, as you will require her abilities in the future.' He smiled, looking out of the window. 'However, tonight is a full moon, is it not?'

'So?' I asked.

Then I suddenly remembered. The night the dorm was attacked, I looked up and saw the full moon on the roof, which shone onto the Shadow like a beam. Then the night of the monorail battle, Yukari pointed out that it was a full moon. Which meant that tonight was the worst possible night they could have carried out an operation.

'You finally remembered?' He asked. 'They only come out on a full moon.'

'And you say that there's going to be two of them this time?' I confirmed.

'Indeed.' The boy smiled. 'If you do not help them, then I am afraid that they will all die.'

'Die?' I was put in shock.

'Orpheus isn't your only weapon after all, and I fear that if you do not act now, then they will all die in that place.' He laughed to himself. 'Bye for now.'

 **I changed the Social Link for the Emperor and Hangedman because I won't be able to fit them in the story unfortunately, and I felt like Yuko and Kazushi needed a Social Link with Minako. Hope you don't mind.**


	7. Chapter VII: The Empress and Emperor

**Chapter VII: The Empress and Emperor**

I needed to make up my mind now, and I needed to do it fast. I know what I said before and I have no evoker, but they're out there fighting for something they believe in. They may not all be friends, but they all have their own individual reasons for taking the fight to the Shadows, which allows them to work together towards a common goal, linked by a powerful link. Not of friendship, but of teamwork. I couldn't take it any longer, so I stole a motorbike from the streets and headed straight for Tartarus.

When I got there, it looked as if the battle was already over, but not in the way that I was hoping. A persona I hadn't seen before was shielding Natsuki and two huge Shadows stood before it, ready to finish it off. It was time to make my entrance, so I used the corridor wall as a ramp and went full speed at one of the Shadows, jumping off at the right moment, landing next to my Naginata. I picked it up and looked to the side, seeing everyone defeated, yet still shocked that I was there.

'Arisato, why?' Mitsuru was struggling to breath.

'Mitsuru! Evoker! Now!' I demanded, seeing the second Shadow getting over its daze.

Mitsuru took my evoker from her pocket and threw it to me, which I immediately used to summon Orpheus and defend Fuuka. I now had their attention, so I used Agi to lure them away so I could get between them and Fuuka. However, Agi seemed to be doing nothing to them, nor were any of my other attacks.

'It's no use.' Junpei struggled to look at me. 'Orpheus is useless against them.'

'Oh really?' I asked him.

I quickly dodged out of the way of an incoming attack and decided that it was time to use the full scale of my powers.

'Jack Frost!' I yelled, summoning him into battle.

'Look at that, the show off can summon multiple personas.' Junpei let off a weak laugh.

'What's her persona, Akihiko?' I asked.

'Support class, like Mitsuru's.' He responded. 'Better, actually.'

'Right, I know this is so sudden Fuuka, but I need you to listen very closely to me, alright?' I asked her, keeping an eye on the Shadows.

'Okay, got it.' She replied.

Before I could say anything else, the Shadows broke free and started attacking me. I rolled out of the way of one attack and blocked the other with Orpheus, before being flung back into Fuuka's persona. She gasped as I looked at my leg, revealing a deep cut which would have a dire effect on my mobility in battle.

'Damn.' I said, looking at it.

'What's wrong?' Mitsuru asked.

'My leg, it's cut open!' I shouted.

'Can you stand? Walk? Run?' She questioned me desperately.

'Yeah, it's just going to be a major hindrance on my battle mobility.' I told her.

'Then get Yamagishi and the girl out of here!' She shouted at me.

'What? No way!' I shouted back.

I summoned Orpheus to deal with the incoming attacks coming from the Shadows, until a bolt of electricity came tumbling down on them, drawing their attention. When I looked over to the group, Akihiko was stood there holding his evoker and struggling to keep on his feet.

'You heard her!' He shouted. 'We'll cover your retreat!'

'Yeah, let me make up for before!' Junpei agreed with him.

'I am not leaving you all to die!' I protested.

'We are not having this discussion Arisato! Go, that's an order!' Mitsuru yelled at me.

'You abandoned us once, you're not even part of SEES anymore, so just go dammit!' Yukari yelled.

'Exactly, I'm not under your command anymore senpi.' I turned to Fuuka. 'Someone taught me something important, that you should protect your friends with everything you've got in a fight. You may just be comrades to some, but I still consider you all my precious friends, even after everything that's happened between us. That's why, I can't leave you here!'

I turned back around and used Igor's power of fusion to fuse two persona's together in front of everyone, creating a more powerful persona that could use Zio attacks.

'I call to thy, Omoikane!' I yelled.

I shattered both of the cards before me into eachother with the help of Igor and summoned Omoikane into battle, who hit the Shadows bad, sending them to the floor.

'Alright, quickly now Fuuka! Can you see any signs of what they might be weak to?' I asked her.

'It's changing again.' She replied. 'Yes, I can see it! Use ice!'

'Great, can you three fight?' I said to Yukari, Junpei and Akihiko.

'Yes!' They all told me.

'Great, Yukari can handle Garu attacks, Akihiko has got Zio attacks, I'll focus on Bufu attacks and I'll trust you to have my back with Agi and sword attacks, Junpei! Fuuka, you command the attacks and what types we should be using! Keep your distance between eachother and let's do this, together!' I ordered them all.

We were all suddenly pumped up and ready to go. We listened as Fuuka yelled out commands and we started chipping away at the Shadows, bit by bit. Fire, wind, electricity, ice, sword, and then the Shadows were on their last legs. This last attack would finish them off for sure and end this long and tiring battle.

'Quick, finish it off with fire Junpei-san!' Fuuka yelled.

'You know what? You finish 'em off with Orpheus, leader!' He turned to me.

'Yeah, you've got this!' Akihiko supported his decision.

'They're all yours!' Yukari yelled.

'Orpheus!' I yelled at the top of my voice.

I summoned Orpheus and finished them both off and they disintegrated into the air, like every other Shadow. Two blue butterflies flew into my chest and disappeared inside of me, so I knew that the battle was finally over. I started walking towards Mitsuru, who was trying to get to her feet and struggling to do so. I gave Junpei a high-five and patted Akihiko on the shoulder before finally reaching her and extending my arm to her. She looked up and into my eyes for a moment before accepting it and she got back to her feet, still holding my hand.

'So, do you still want those transfer documents?' She asked me.

'Not on your life.' I told her with a smile.

'I knew you'd come back.' She smiled back.

'We've got a fight to win.' I replied, then realizing we were still holding hands. 'This just got awkward, mind if I let go now?'

'Yes, of course.' Mitsuru stumbled backwards.

'Alright, a word please!' I shouted, heading partway up the stairs as everyone gathered around. 'Before, I had no reason to fight other than because I had to, I got scared and took it out on everyone else, running away. However, now I do have something to fight for, something that's worth protecting, my friends.' I looked at Yukari, who avoided eye contact. 'Not just you guys here in this room, but the people outside of The Dark Hour. They have no idea what is going on, so it's my, no our, duty to protect them from the Shadows. If you're all okay with it, I'd like to fight alongside you all again!'

Everyone welcomed me back and I looked down on my evoker. This was me, this is what I fight for, to make sure that what happened to Sasaki didn't happen to anyone ever again. I moved my things back to the dorms and was sat in my room when there was a knock on my open door, Junpei. I stood up and walked over to him.

'I thought you were to be sentenced to death if you came here?' I said with a weak smile.

'Yeah, well I just wanted to apologize about before.' He told me. 'You've always been a great leader, and I guess I got jealous of that.'

'Don't worry about it, I wouldn't like being bossed around by some kid I barely even knew.' I replied.

'From now on, we're in this together, and I'm counting on you to make the right choices out there, leader.' Junpei spoke seriously for a change.

He extended his arm for a handshake, which I accepted and looked him in the eyes, accepting my new and improved role as leader. Now all that was left for me to do was to make things right with Yukari. So, the next day at school, I managed to catch her before she left class and took her to one side.

'Hey, I know you feel like I abandoned you but it wasn't like that at all, I'm sorry if you felt that way.' I apologized.

'You don't understand anything about me, nobody does.' She rolled her eyes and tried to leave.

I stopped her. 'Then talk to me.'

'I need to go to Archery Club.' She bluffed.

'We both know that isn't true.' I replied.

She sighed. 'My father died in that accident ten years ago, and since then, my mother has been moving from place to place, man to man, and we grew further and further apart as time went on. That's why I moved to the dorms when I was accepted at Gekkoukan, then after a year, Mitsuru found me during The Dark Hour and that's how I became part of SEES. You see, I've been abandoned before, so excuse me if I don't take kindly to one of my friends doing the same thing.'

'Oh, I'm so sorry, I had no idea.' I told her.

'Well now you know.' She replied.

'Do you think we can still be friends even after this?' I asked her, looking her in the eye.

'Sure, you are our leader after all.' She agreed. 'I know I'll never replace Sasaki, but I'll do my very best to keep you alive.'

I nodded and took a step back, allowing her to leave. I felt a sudden surge of energy coming from the Lovers Arcana, the bond that I shared with her. I guess you could say that these bonds were a cheat sheet to finding your real friends, and avoiding the fake ones. I walked back to the dorms and prepared myself for my first night of training in a while.


	8. Chapter VIII: Rebuilding Bonds

**Chapter VIII: Rebuilding Bonds**

When I woke up this Sunday morning, I got a call from Akihiko telling me to meet everyone at Wild Duck Burger for lunch, so I got dressed and left to have a walk by myself beforehand. I walked to Naganaki Shrine and knelt there for a while. I thought about Sasaki and how she might be watching over me, so I asked her to keep her eye out for me and opened my eyes again. When I turned around, I noticed a boy my age in a hospital outfit, looking worried about something, so I decided to go and see what he was worried about.

'Hey, something wrong?' I asked him.

'I seem to have misplaced my fountain pen.' He answered in a voice that sounded like he was already dead. 'Without it, I cannot record the words I speak.'

'I can help you look for it, if you like?' I offered. 'What does it look like?'

'Red, it is blood red.' He responded.

I started looking for it, whilst he rested for a moment. I walked around the back of the shrine and heard a bark from behind me. When I turned to face it, it was a dog with pure white fur, definitely a rare breed. I noticed that it didn't have a collar, so it must be a stray, which made me sad. It was waggling its tail at me and holding something in its mouth, a red fountain pen. When I noticed it, it barked again.

'Hey there, what have you got there?' I spoke, kneeling to the ground.

'Arf!' It dropped the pen before me. 'Arf! Arf!'

'Aw, did you find this all by yourself?' I asked.

'Arf!' It turned around and trotted off into the distance, as if on a mission of its own.

I returned the pen to its rightful owner and he thanked me, allowing me to sit with him on the bench. From here, you could see the majority of the shrine and the people who would come here every day to pray to the gods or their lost loved ones.

'My name is Akinari Kamiki, what brings such a beautiful soul to such a place as this?' He asked me.

'I noticed that you was troubled by something, so I came to offer my help.' I answered him.

'Tell me, do you understand the concept of loss?' He turned to face me.

'I lost my friend a while ago, if that's what you mean?' I looked to the floor.

'I am truly sorry to hear of this.' He apologized. 'I have an illness that cannot be cured, nor slowed down, all I can do is wait for the day I will die.'

'I see.' I bit my lip.

'You should be enjoying life with the living, not spending it with the dead.' He told me. 'Now go, and please do not return here again.'

It was approaching lunchtime, so it would be best if I took this opportunity to leave anyway. I was ready to abide by Akinari's wishes when I heard an all too familiar voice in my head, indicating that I should indeed come back another day and talk to him.

'I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when creating personas of the Sun Arcana.'

When I got to Wild Duck Burger, everyone else was already there and there was an empty seat with a drink in front of it. When they saw me, they all urged me to come over and sit with them, even Mitsuru spared the time to come, so I did so and sat down in the empty seat.

'Is this mine?' I asked.

'Yeah, I remembered to get you diet, don't worry.' Yukari smiled at me.

'Thanks, that means a lot.' I smiled back at her.

'Relax, it's just a drink, why are you acting like she just agreed to be your bridesmaid or something?' Junpei spoke up.

'You wouldn't understand, Junpei.' Yukari turned to him.

'Besides, Junpei, who am I marrying?' I asked him. 'You?'

'No, don't even joke about that!' Yukari shook her head in disgust.

'Junpei-san isn't that bad, is he?' Fuuka asked.

'Oh Fuuka, if only you knew.' I told her.

'I'm happy to see that you're back to your usual self again, Arisato.' Mitsuru spoke up.

'Let me go and get the food, I'm paying for this one.' Akihiko took everyone's orders and left for the counter.

'I think the truth is, that I needed to find something to fight for, something that I wanted to protect, no matter what.' I told her.

'And did you find it?' She replied.

'Yeah, I'm sat with them all.' I said as I looked around everyone. 'The truth is, I don't care if you only see me as a comrade, and not a friend, I want to protect you all equally as much. Akihiko, Yukari, Junpei, Fuuka, and you, Mitsuru-senpi.'

'Minako.' Yukari spoke my name.

'Hey, let's not get all mushy right away!' Junpei encouraged us.

Akihiko came back and sat at the table. 'They're bringing the food over to us.'

'Say, why are you being so generous today, Akihiko-senpi?' Junpei asked.

'Because today marks a new beginning for us all, I believe that the recent issues we have been facing have made us stronger in the end, and we will continue moving forward and battling on together!' Akihiko raised his drink. 'To new beginnings!'

We all cheered and made a toast to new beginnings. This really felt like a new beginning for us all, something that made us stronger and has given us the ability to continue on without falter. The voice in my head only confirmed this and everyone started talking among themselves.

'I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when creating personas of the Fool Arcana.'

Akihiko was laughing along with Junpei when he noticed someone enter. I turned to face the person, that seemed to be a boy our age, in a beanie hat and jacket. I didn't know what to think of him by looking at him, but Akihiko seemed to know him, so I assumed that he was a good guy, despite him looking like a murderer or something.

'Hey Shinji, come and join us!' Akihiko shouted over to him.

'No thanks.' He walked over to us. 'What are you guys doing here anyway, I didn't expect to see you in a place like this Mitsuru.'

'Yes, this is my first time.' She admitted.

'We're celebrating the return of our leader.' Akihiko pointed at me.

'Minako Arisato.' I told him.

'Another girl huh.' He said, looking at me.

'She's a good leader, her gender doesn't affect that.' Akihiko protested.

'I didn't mean it like that, idiot.' He shook his head. 'You've just got to look out for her, you know?'

'Oh, yeah, don't worry about that.' He told him.

'You two, Yukari Takeba and Junpei Iori? We met before in the ally behind Port Island station, right?' He said, taking a seat.

'What? What were you doing there?' I turned to Yukari.

'Nothing bad, I swear!' She protested.

'It's dangerous there, you could've gotten yourselves hurt.' I told her.

'With you gone, we needed to find out about Fuuka and this was the only way I would think of.' She insisted.

The food arrived and we began eating when I decided to take a bathroom break. I walked inside and splashed some water on my face, looking into the mirror. My head started hurting, so I took out the pills that I had been taking for the pain. When I was done, Yukari was stood behind me, with a face of concern.

'What are those?' She asked me.

'They help me forget, and cure my head pains.' I told her.

'Forget what?' She stood next to me and placed her hand on mine.

'Whenever I start feeling closer to someone, I get a pain, like someone is stabbing a needle into my brain. I start thinking about her, and how I lost her, and I start panicking, that's where the pain comes from. I take these to make sure I don't bring everyone down with me.' I explained to her.

'Anti-depressants? I had no idea.' She forced me to look at her.

'I call them joy pills, they're the only things that allow me to continue being my bubbly self, making jokes with Junpei, hanging out with you, even going to school everyday.' I explained further.

'I see, well you know you've got me forever now, so if you ever need someone to talk to, call and I'll come running, anytime, anywhere.' She turned my body to face her.

We hugged for a moment before deciding to go back to the overs. When we all finished eating, we said goodbye to Shinjiro and headed back to the dorms. Later that night in the lounge, I was sat down with Mitsuru, who was filling me in on the situation. It was confirmed that these big Shadows appeared every full moon, and they were the key to eliminating The Dark Hour. So our goal was to defeat them all and rid the world of Tartarus and The Dark Hour.

'Oh, I forgot to mention that I'll be joining you on the front lines in the next full moon battle, just like with the exploration of Tartarus. I've been training with Akihiko so I can get stronger and back into the swing of things.' She explained to me.

'You should've told me and I would've gone with you.' I told her.

'Thanks, but you needed your rest and I didn't want to be a burden on the team.' She replied.

'Hey, you'd never be a burden, you're our strongest asset here, just don't tell the others I said that.' I laughed.

She laughed with me. 'Either way, we should go to Tartarus as much as possible, so we're ready for whatever is in store for us next.'

The night passed by and the next day at school, I was at Tennis club, facing Rio in a one verses one battle. Apparently the skills that I was picking up in my explorations of Tartarus were transferring into my school life, as I was now fitter and quicker on my toes, making it next to impossible for her to score a point against me. Then she suddenly hit me with a power shot, which zoomed passed my ear and hit the wall behind me.

'Wow Rio, have you been practicing your power shots?' I asked her, amazed.

'Well it's the only thing that can break those reflexes of yours.' She panted. 'You may be ready to represent the school.'

'Represent? In which way?' I asked her.

'By being on the team when we enter the nationals in the summer.' She answered.

'The nationals? I'm honored you'd pick me for something like that.' I told her.

'Yeah, we'll be facing another High School, Yasogami High, I think it it called, in a rural town called Inaba.' She explained to me. 'You'll need to work on switching between attack and defensive play though, I hear that they're really good.'

'We'll win for sure.' I told her.

'With you on the team, for sure.' She nodded at me. 'Get Serving then and we'll have one more game before we call it a day.'

I picked up the ball and hit it as hard as I could. Her comment about switching between attack and defensive play got me thinking about when we fight the Shadows. I always focus on attacking them, rather than supporting the others, and what if there's a Shadow that manages to catch us off guard? I would be finished if that was the case, so I decided to take that advice into my training when we explored Tartarus, and also decided to train the others to do the same thing.


	9. Chapter IX: The Hierophant and Lovers

**Chapter IX: The Hierophant and Lovers**

'Persona!'

'Kirijo! Takeba! Move to the left and try to flank them!' I shouted, blocking a Shadow attack.

Mitsuru ran down the left side of the hallway, dodging an attack and managing to take out the Shadows that had everyone pinned down. Two more Shadows came from behind, but Akihiko made light work of them both, allowing them to move up to the next floor, which was the next floor boss Shadow.

'Be careful, you're approaching another strong one.' Fuuka echoed through their heads.

'Yamagishi, give me an Arcana status on the dancers!' I yelled. 'Sanada, Iori, hold it off for now.'

'Lovers, its Arcana is of the Lovers!' Fuuka shouted back.

'Everyone, use elemental attacks, find its weakness! Take turns and keep on the defensive in the meantime!' I shouted.

The group fanned out around the room and took it in turns using elemental attacks on the three Shadows before us. However, nothing was working for some reason, so that meant that either Hama or Mudo worked on them.

'Make a call Yamagishi!' I shouted.

'Try Mudo, I think that will work!' She shouted back.

'Alright, I've got this!' I shouted. 'I summon thou, Pale Rider!'

Pale Rider was fused and joined the battle to finish off the Shadows, allowing us to finally take a break, so we sat on the steps to the next floor and took a moment to catch our breath.

'I forget how easy it is to become fatigued here.' Mitsuru commented.

'Heh, you guys just need to train harder.' Akihiko smiled.

'Oh please Akihiko, you look like you're about to pass out.' Mitsuru replied.

'Shall we head back to the dorm now?' Yukari suggested.

'Sounds like a good idea to me.' Junpei agreed.

'Good call Yukari, we don't want to be too tired for the next full moon.' I agreed. 'When we win this next full moon, I'm paying for dinner.'

Everyone got back to their feet and proceeded to head back to the dorms whilst still under the cover of The Dark Hour. I looked up at the yellow moon and green sky and took a deep breath.

'We must have made record time in there today.' I smiled.

'You're starting to enjoy this, aren't you?' Akihiko commented.

'Not at all.' I looked at everyone. 'Okay, it is kinda cool when everything goes how I want it to.'

'I knew it, you are that kind of gal.' Junpei commented.

'All joked aside though, you did even better than before in there.' Mitsuru congratulated me. 'What made you change your style?'

'I had a think about what it meant to keep everyone alive, and figured that if I act so serious in there, then chances are people will listen to my orders, keeping everyone alive in the end.' I explained.

'Well I gotta hand it to you, I'd be cracking under all that pressure in there.' Junpei laughed nervously.

'Three more days until the next full moon.' Fuuka pointed out.

'We've got this in the bag, no problem.' I smiled.

We got back to the dorm and the next three days went by and before we knew it, we were meeting inside of the command room on the fourth floor, preparing for yet another full moon. By the time I had got there, Fuuka had already summoned her persona and everyone else was waiting on her findings, so I stood next to Mitsuru and waited myself.

'How many do you think there will be tonight?' I asked her, trying to make conversation.

'The less the better for us to be able to control them.' She stated. 'Yamagishi is scanning the area to find out exactly what we're up against though.'

'I found it!' Fuuka shouted. 'There's just one, and its at Shirakawa Boulevard.'

'Well that explains why they've been showing up in pairs recently.' Akihiko pointed out.

'Why?' Fuuka asked. 'I've never been in that part of the city before, what's there?'

'Oh, well, erm, you see.' Yukari was flustered.

'That's where all of those hotels are, right Mitsuru-senpi?' Junpei asked.

'Why are you asking me? I don't go there!' Mitsuru shouted back.

'Oh, I get it now.' Fuuka spoke in a softer tone.

'Well, when you guys have done acting like a bunch of grade schoolers, I'm assuming that space will be limited, so stick to a tight formation until we pinpoint the exact location of the target.' I explained. 'You're sure there's just one this time, Fuuka?'

'Positive, there's nothing else in the area.' She confirmed.

'We've got this in the bag then, let's move.' I ordered everyone.

According to Akihiko and Mitsuru, Shirakawa Boulevard was the place in Port Island where couples would go, full of love hotels lining the streets. Luckily, it was The Dark Hour, so there wasn't anyone around to question why the six of us were carrying weapons into one of them. We reached the target location and did a sweep of the building, tracking down the Shadow to the top floor, so we all gathered outside of the double doors. I nodded at Mitsuru and we both bust the doors open, to be met by a white flash.

The next thing I knew, I was in the shower and I couldn't remember anything about how I got here, all that I knew I needed to do, was have a good time. The water fell down my body and I washed my hair, with no control over what I was doing. There was a soft voice in my head, encouraging we to let it go and give into temptations. I put a towel on and walked out, stopping face to face with a topless Akihiko. We were about to kiss when...

'Minako, the hearts desires are not to be ignored.' The voice in my head encouraged me.

'Minako-san - trap - Minako!' A familiar voice echoed within my head.

My lips were centimeters away from Akihiko's, when I was able to shake my head, allowing me to come back to my senses.

'Wait what?' I took a step back and looked at what we were wearing.

'Erm.' Akihiko started to come around.

'Hell no!' I screamed at the top of my voice.

I slapped him back to his senses and ran back into the bathroom, sitting on the floor breathing heavily. I have never been so embarrassed in my entire life. Eventually I plucked up the courage to start getting dressed again, remembering that we had a mission to do here.

'Minako? Minako? Are you there?' Fuuka was shouting desperately.

'Fuuka? Yeah, erm, I. What's up?' I was struggling to speak.

'It was a Shadow attack that seemed to separate you all, Mitsuru is fighting the Shadow on the third floor and needs your help immediately.' She explained. 'Are you and Akihiko-senpi okay?'

'Did you see or hear what happened in this room?' I asked her, suddenly serious.

'No, I couldn't do anything with my powers to help you until now.' She replied.

'Good, keep it that way.' I told her.

I rushed to get dressed and grabbed my evoker and Naginata, leaving the bathroom to be greeted by a fully clothed and embarrassed Akihiko this time.

'You tell anyone what happened in here, and I'll slit your tongue from your mouth.' I spoke in a deadly serious tone. 'Understood?'

'Y-yes, of course.' Akihiko replied.

'Good, now let's kick this guys ass!' I shouted, leaving the room.

Akihiko and I rushed up the stairs to the third floor and burst open the door to where the Shadow was. However, I was shocked to see the walls and floor destroyed towards the back of the room and two shadows fighting. One shadow, The Hierophant, was in the form of a fat man being massaged by a woman, the other being The Lovers, taking the form of a giant heart with a head. Not only that, but Junpei was attacking Mitsuru now.

'There are two of them?' I questioned Fuuka. 'Yamagishi?'

'The Hierophant masked the presence of The Lover, which is the one that has been using these psychological attacks on you all!' Fuuka explained.

Junpei noticed I was here. 'Hey, Minako, you sure look hot tonight!'

'Careful, Junpei's in a state of...' Fuuka tried to explain.

'Total creepiness!' I greeted him with a slap so hard, it knocked him unconscious.

'You sure have a powerful slap.' Yukari complimented me.

'No time for that Yukari, let's get down to business!' I ordered everyone back. 'Kirijo and Sanada, I want you focusing on the Hierophant, keep him off of Takeba, who will use her bow to break the mask on The Lovers, which seems to be controlling the psychological attacks. I'll back you up and Iori will have to sit this one out, I believe in you all!'

We all fanned out and focused on our separate objectives. The Hierophant fought back against Akihiko and Mitsuru, knocking her to the ground and chasing Akihiko into the bathroom next door, forcing him to jump into the bathtub as I summoned Orpheus to take down the tentacle like things that were attacking him. He ran back into the room and the two crosses that were guarding The Hierophant jumped at myself and Mitsuru, clashing with our blades. Yukari shot an arrow straight through the eye of The Lovers, shattering its mask.

'Great, finish it off Takeba, that one's yours!' I told her, trying to block attacks from The Hierophant.

Yukari summoned her persona into the fight and The Hierophant tried to intercept it, but Mitsuru thought fast and picked up a whip, clustering the tentacle things together. I proceeded to summon Rakshasa, who took them down with ease, allowing Mitsuru and Akihiko to take down its main body. Moments after The Hierophant fell, Yukari finished off The Lovers, completing the mission.

'Did you see that?' Yukari cheered. 'I took that thing on all by myself!'

'I told you, you are strong, Yukari.' I smiled at her.

'Yeah, thanks for that encouragement.' She smiled back. 'Your words are what fuel my determination in battle.'

'I've got to admit, you have a natural talent for being a leader.' Akihiko admitted.

'Well done everyone, there are no more Shadows, operation complete!' Fuuka informed us.


	10. Chapter X: Yakushima

**I just came back to this FF after a while off and realized that I messed up the order of events concerning Koromaru as we should have been introduced to him with Fuuka and Yukari outside of the dorm before the last full moon battle. Sorry about that.**

 **Chapter X: Yakushima**

'So, you have overcome yet another challenge.'

The mysterious boy in stripped pajamas was sat on the end of my bed, looking right at me as I opened my eyes to greet him.

'Your bonds with your friends seem to be stronger now than ever before.' He told me.

'Yeah, I've felt it too.' I agreed.

'Of course, you have.' He laughed and then sighed. 'I wonder, could the two of us be friends?'

'I don't even know your name.' I told him, sitting up in my bed.

'A name? Yes, I suppose that is something I need.' He thought for a moment. 'Pharos.'

'Pharos?' I asked.

'You don't like it?' He looked down, sad.

'No, it's good, just.' I paused for a moment. 'Different.'

Pharos smiled. 'I'm glad we could become friends, Minako.'

'I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when creating personas of the Death Arcana.'

Soon enough, exam finals were just around the corner before summer vacation. Ikutski had announced that he was coming to the dorm one night, so we were all gathered in the lounge talking about summer vacation.

'So, what's your plans for this summer, Mitsuru-senpi?' Junpei asked.

'Nothing much.' She answered.

'Oh, all right then.' He replied.

'I would love to go on vacation, to a nice beach somewhere.' Yukari fantasized.

'Yeah, that would be nice.' Fuuka joined her.

Ikutski walked in. 'What about Yakushima? I know you've been searching for the truth, maybe you'll find it there Mitsuru.'

'My father?' Mitsuru thought for a moment. 'That would be a way of satisfying everyone's needs.'

'Indeed, I can deal with the travel arrangements, there are a few things I want to look into there too.' Ikutski kindly offered.

'Is this actually happening?' Akihiko asked.

'We could all use a break, I suppose.' Mitsuru stated. 'Okay, let's do it!'

'Woohoo!' Junpei cheered. 'Ya-ku-shima!'

'I need to pack.' Yukari panicked.

'First, you all need to pass your exams.' Mitsuru reminded us.

'Why did you have to depress us with that, Mitsuru-senpi?' Junpei moaned.

Final exam week passed and I started packing my things for the trip. I looked at the pictures on my desk and thought about how it'd be nice for us to all have our own picture taken in Yakushima. Then, soon enough, we were on the boat heading there.

'This is going to be awesome!' Junpei shouted.

'Calm down Junpei, you're acting like a kid.' Yukari complained.

The boat finally docked at the port and we all walked towards a huge mansion in the middle of the woods. When we reached the front of it, I saw a plaque that said 'Kirijo', which suddenly made me realize exactly how rich Mitsuru's family is. We walked inside and was immediately greeted by two of many maids that bowed and welcomed us. They then proceeded to escort us to a pair of double doors that opened as if on cue and an older man wearing an eye patch walked through them.

'Mitsuru.' He greeted her.

'Hello.' She greeted him back. 'Sorry for barging in like this.'

'Not at all, there was something I wanted to show you all anyway.' He informed us.

'Oh, really?' She asked.

'Yes, I've seen that you accessed the Kirijo database.' He looked at her. 'You could've just asked, I had no intention of hiding the truth from any of you.'

'I apologize.' She looked down.

He then turned to look at Yukari. 'You're Yukari Takeba, right?'

'Yeah.' She answered.

'Perhaps it was indeed fate that led you here.' He nodded.

After that, he left the room and some of his maids came and escorted us to our rooms. We all had our own individual rooms within the mansion and they were huge, bigger than any that I had seen before. I guess this is what you can do with a billion yen. It wasn't long before I heard a knock on my door, opening it to Yukari.

'Hey, Junpei wants us all to head down to the beach, you coming?' She asked.

'Sure thing, just give me a second to change.' I told her.

'No problem.' She nodded. 'He's already gone down there with Akihiko.'

'We should head down with Fuuka and Mitsuru-senpi then.' I told her.

'That's the plan, see you downstairs.' She smiled and left.

I got changed and the three of us went down to the beach together, only to be greeted by a too excited looking Junpei, who seemed to think it was his birthday or something.

'Oh yes, this is what the summer is all about!' He cheered into the air.

'Junpei, why do you have to be such a creep?' Yukari asked him.

'Can't blame a guy for looking.' He replied.

'Yeah, but I can slap a guy for looking.' I told him.

We laughed it off and played in the ocean for a while. It felt nice to be able to take a break from the constant fighting and tension with the Shadows back home. When I got out for a rest, I saw Mitsuru resting on the beach, so I thought that this was the perfect opportunity to get to know her a bit better. As I approached her, it felt like someone was watching me from the woods, but when I looked over, I saw nothing. I took a deep breath and looked in the sky.

Mitsuru lowered the book that she was reading. 'Are you okay? You should use this time to relax.'

'Yeah, I was just thinking.' I looked at her. 'Sasaki would have loved this, I think she would have been a valuable asset to SEES too.'

'From what I hear, she sounds as tough as you.' She told me.

'Tougher, faster, sharper reflexes.' I sat down next to her. 'I was nothing without her, you know.'

'Maybe so, but look at how far you have come now.' She smiled. 'You are by far our strongest asset.'

'You call someone who stormed out like a kid throwing a tantrum and nearly left everyone to die your strongest asset?' I asked her.

'You came back though, and refused to let us die.' She told me. 'I put you in an impossible position, I'm glad you stayed in the end.'

'Sometimes refusing orders is the right thing to do.' I told her.

'Yeah, just don't make a habit of it though.' She replied.

'I just wonder, would Sasaki have left in the first place?' I asked.

'You need to stop comparing yourself to her.' She looked me in the eyes. 'You are not Sasaki, you are you. The beauty of mankind is that every single one of them are different from one another in some way or another, we're all unique.'

'Thanks.' I let off a soft laugh. 'You can be quite inspirational when you want to be, you know?'

'I'm always here for you if you need me.' She smiled.

'I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when creating personas of the Empress Arcana.'

That night, Ikutski gathered everyone in the mansion's cinema lounge, claiming that he had something to show us all. I was the last to arrive, so I sat down, allowing Ikutski to start.

'We finally have a way to destroy the Shadows, this is the only footage found from the accident ten years ago.' He looked at Yukari. 'Made by your father, Yukari.'

'Father?' Yukari trembled.

Ikutski started the recording. 'Hello - if anyone is watching this, then I have been involved in a terrible experiment - my superiors are obsessed with the loathsome idea of resurrecting death - I interrupted this experiment, causing the shadows to scatter and causing this disaster - listen to me carefully when I say - hunt down and destroy the full moon Shadows, I repeat - you must destroy the full moon Shadows - I'm so sorry that I caused all of this - I caused this whole mess.'

'What?' Yukari was shaking. 'You just lied to me, so I'd fight to clean up your mess, Kirijo!'

Yukari ran out of the room on the verge of tears and everyone was in shock at what they had just seen. I decided to go after her, and found her on the beach crying to herself. I walked next to her and placed my hand on her shoulder.

'It's okay, Yukari.' I tried to comfort her.

'What do you know? My mother sleeps around with just about every guy in Japan and I believed in my father to the very end, he got me through the worst times and it turns out that everything I ever believed in him was a lie! You don't know shit!' She yelled at me.

'You think I don't know how it feels?' I shouted back at her.

'No!' She yelled. 'No, you don't know how it feels! Your parents are dead! You don't have to deal with this bullshit!'

I suddenly slapped her and she fell to the floor. I knelt in front of her and lifted her head, she was still crying.

'I'm sorry, but you of all people should know what it's like, to loose someone you love.' I told her.

'No, I was out of line there.' She spoke quietly. 'Let's go back to the others.'

Then suddenly something rustled from the woods and Shadows started approaching us.

'Shadows? Here? That makes no sense, it's not The Dark Hour!' Yukari panicked.

'Damn, we don't have our evokers either.' I pointed out.

'We can't take them all on!' Yukari shouted.


	11. Chapter XI: Aigis

**This has been the most confusing thing ever because for some reason I wrote two chapters months ago, that I didn't upload, but have huge plot / story gaps between them. So, here's the filler between the two.**

 **Chapter XI: Aigis**

The shadows had Yukari and I surrounded at all sides. I panicked and didn't know what to do, allowing one of them to leap towards us to attack us. I quickly shielded Yukari with my own body, but I was protected from gunfire in the distance. Confused, we both looked around and saw some sort of robotic figure with blonde hair, aiming her arms like guns towards the Shadows.

"What is that?" Yukari asked.

"Beats me, but it seems like it's on our side." I told her.

The Shadows turned on the robot, who dodged all their attacks with ease – demonstrating inhuman agility skills. It then did something I really wasn't expecting.

"Persona!" It shouted in a woman's voice.

Yukari and I stood and watched in awe, as it made short work of the Shadows in the area. As the battle concluded, we heard voices and footsteps coming from the woods, which soon turned out to be Ikutsuki and Mitsuru.

"You found her, thank goodness." Ikutsuki sighed with relief. "I was beginning to think that we would have to waste our last vacation day searching for her tomorrow."

"Are you two okay?" Mitsuru asked. "What happened?"

"Like you care." Yukari said disheartened.

"Come on Yukari, it's not Mitsuru's fault." Ikutsuki told her.

"Whatever." She shook her head. "Well you've got Minako here to thank for keeping me around."

With that, she took off back to the mansion. Mitsuru and Ikutsuki fiddled with the robot and we followed her. When we got inside, it was deserted – as everyone was probably in bed by now.

"You two should get some rest." Ikutsuki told us. "I'll make sure she doesn't run off again."

"He's right, Minako." Mitsuru agreed.

"What about Yukari though? I'm worried about her." I told her.

"Well I think she would rather be alone for the night to be honest with you." Mitsuru explained to me. "Get some rest."

"Okay, night." I nodded to them both.

They watched as I made my way up the stairs and to my room. The next morning signalled the start of our last vacation day. I walked to the main lounge at the request of Ikutsuki and met up with everyone, including Yukari – much to my surprise.

"Right everyone, I want you all to meet the latest addition to SEES." He introduced the robot from last night.

"What is it?" Junpei asked.

"I am the last remaining 5th Generation Anti Shadow Weapon, Aigis. My goal is to eliminate the Shadow threat." She then looked at me. "And to be by your side at all times."

"What's with that?" Akihiko asked.

"I'm not sure what's causing her to act so strangely towards you, Minako." Ikutsuki looked confused. "It could simple be a problem with her identification software – it hasn't been updated in over a decade, after all."

"Right, so what can you do… erm… Aigis?" Mitsuru asked.

"I am equipped with dual nine-millimetre chain machine guns, with enough ammunition stored inside of me to last an hour of consistent fighting before needing to be reloaded. Agility which surpasses that of any human is physically capable of, as well as the ability to summon the Persona, Palladian." She explained to us in detail.

"I didn't understand a word she just said." Junpei responded.

"You wouldn't." I teased him.

"Hey, I resent that." He snapped back.

"In any case, I won't keep you from enjoying your vacation any longer." Ikutsuki announced.

I noticed that Yukari hadn't said a word since I arrived, so I went over to check on her.

"You alright?" I asked her.

"Yeah, kinda embarrassed about last night." She admitted.

"You don't have to be embarrassed, you just got told that everything you ever believed in was a lie." I reminded her.

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have taken it out on Mitsuru-senpi like that." She looked over at Mitsuru, who was talking to Ikutsuki and her father.

"Don't worry about it, it'll all blow over soon enough." I reassured her.

"Minako, if you have a moment!" Ikutsuki shouted over.

I looked at him, then back at Yukari. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah, you go and see what's up. I'll see if Fuuka wants to go on a walk or something." She smiled at me.

"Good idea, the peace and quiet will do you some good." I told her.

I walked over to Ikutsuki, who took me outside with Aigis and Mitsuru. We walked along a dirt trail into the woods. I gave it a moment, but no one spoke, so I decided to do so instead.

"Why are you taking me here?" I asked them.

"It's nice to get some fresh air, away from the city." Ikutsuki chuckled.

"Yes." Mitsuru agreed. "Besides, there's something you need to know."

"We don't have to do this Mitsuru; the team is barely holding together as it is." Ikutsuki warned her.

"She has a right to know." She told him.

"Like Yukari, look what good that did." He protested.

"That was our first mistake, we should have told her about her father sooner." Mitsuru snapped at him. "I won't make the same mistake twice!"

"Just tell me what it is, I know there's something going on now." I told them.

We all stopped and Mitsuru looked at me. "This is going to be hard to accept, but we believe that you may have some sort of connection to the Shadows."

"What?" I was in complete shock.

"The one's that come on the full moons, they have come from the different arcana that the Shadows have been grouped into thus far." Mitsuru explained. "And they only started appearing when you arrived at Port Island. I don't believe that it was a coincidence that you summoned Orpheus at that time, nor that you can summon Persona from multiple arcana."

I took a step back in absolute shock, I was speechless. Am I the reason the Shadows started attacking people? Is my fate tied in to that of the Shadows? Who am I? What am I?

"So…" I shook my head in disbelief. "I'm the one responsible for the Apathy Syndrome cases and the Shadows?"

"You misunderstand." Ikutsuki stepped forward. "You heard what was said in the lounge, these Shadows have to be destroyed. You're the key to defeating them and ridding this world of The Dark Hour once and for all."

"I just thought you would like to know." Mitsuru told me. "I've kept enough secrets from everyone."

"It's not your fault, Mitsuru." Ikutsuki tried to comfort her.

"He's right." I agreed with him. "You've been handed a great responsibility, something that most people would have given up on by now."

"You really think so?" She asked.

"You're the student council president and on top of the amount of senior work you have to do at school, you're responsible for all of our lives and the inevitable destruction of the Shadows." I explained to her. "You have my word that I will not rest until they are all destroyed."

"Oh." Mitsuru was taken aback.

"What is it?" I asked her.

"I just didn't think you'd agree to help me so quickly after I told you of my deceit." She admitted.

"Because I know you genuinely care about me." I told her.

"How?" She asked.

I laughed to myself. "I just do."

I smiled and continued the walk with the other two. Before I knew it, the sun was starting to set, so we decided to head back to the beach to check on what the guys were up to. When we got down there, I saw something that I thought I would never see in my life. Akihiko was knelt next to some girl – who clearly wasn't interested in what he was saying.

"Did you know that swimming in the ocean is better for your muscles than swimming in a public pool?" He asked her.

"Erm, no." She told him bluntly.

"Is Akihiko…" I started.

"Hitting, on a girl?" Mitsuru was as shocked as I was.

I looked around and as I expected, I saw Junpei watching in the distance – laughing to himself whilst Fuuka and Yukari were relaxing. I walked down the beach towards Akihiko, who stopped what he was doing when he saw me and I also noticed Junpei run off.

"Akihiko!" I shouted over. "I didn't think you were that type of guy."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, embarrassed.

"The type that would go after any woman he sees." I told him. "You know, like Junpei."

"Hey, that's not true!" He protested.

"Such a shame." I teased him.

I walked over to Fuuka and Yukari, who didn't seem to notice me at first. Then Fuuka tilted her head, looking towards me.

"Oh, hey Minako." She greeted me.

"Hey, what have you two been up to today?" I asked them.

"Nothing much, we've just been relaxing here for a while." Fuuka told me.

"Trying to, at least." Yukari added. "Stupei over there keeps trying to get us to go for a swim with him."

"Yeah, then him and Akihiko told us that they were going to perform an operation or something." Fuuka explained to me. "Operation Babehunt, Junpei called it."

"Operation Babehunt?" I asked. "Is he really that desperate?"

I spent the rest of the day with the girls and our holiday soon came to an end. The next day, we met Ikutsuki at the docks where we boarded a boat back to the Port Island, where we caught the monorail back to the dorms. We had a few more days left of the first semester to attend and then we were free for summer vacation.


	12. Chapter XII: Tennis Tournament

**Chapter XI: Tennis Tournament**

The next day at Tennis practice, Rio asked myself and a few others on the team to stay behind after the others had gone. So when we finished up in the locker room, I walked over to the group that she had gathered at the back on the gym.

'Is everyone here?' She asked.

'I think so, what's up?' I asked back.

'Well, I have decided to take you girls to Inaba for the tournament on the 1st.' She smiled. 'After the match at Yasogami High School, we will be staying at the famous Amagi Inn. I hear that they have the best natural hot springs in the region.'

Everyone got excited and thanked Rio for the opportunity before being allowed to leave. After they had all gone, I stopped her before she left. I couldn't really afford to be away so close to the next full moon, but I couldn't let the team down by not showing up either.

'Are you sure you want me on the team there?' I asked her.

'Minako, you're the best player on this team, we need you there.' She replied.

'I'm just worried because Mitsuru-senpi was talking about an event around the same time.' I tried to bluff her.

'Kirijo-senpi? The student council president?' She asked. 'Don't worry, I'll talk to her about it.'

'Oh, okay then.' I nodded. 'Thanks.'

'No problem, Yuko and Kaz are going too, representing the Kendo team, so it should be a lot of fun.' She smiled.

I was walking back from school that day when I saw Fuuka and Yukari stood outside of the dorms with a familiar looking white haired dog.

'Give me your paw, Koro-chan.' Fuuka called out to him.

'Arf!' He did as he was asked.

'Good boy!' Yukari praised him.

I walked closer. 'Can I pet him?'

'Arf! Arf!' He seemed excited to see me and sat in front of me.

'He seems to like you.' Fuuka pointed out.

'Yeah, we met before at the shrine.' I told them. 'So your name is Koro-chan, huh? Nice to meet you.'

'Arf! Arf! Arf!' He snuggled up to me.

'I've always had a soft spot for dogs, do you know what breed he is?' I asked them both.

'His full name is Koromaru and he's a Shiba Inu, pure breed.' Fuuka smiled.

'Why's he here though?' I asked. 'Doesn't he have an owner?'

'You haven't heard?' Yukari asked, surprised.

'Koromaru used to be the pet of the priest at Naganaki Shrine, who would take him for walks every day around this area, until he was killed in a traffic accident. Every day since, he has took the same rout for his daily walk and protected the shrine, hoping that one day his master will return.' Fuuka explained to me.

'That is so sad, you're such a loyal dog, Koro-chan.' I praised him.

'Arf.' He looked sad.

After saying goodbye to Koromaru, I decided to go into the dorm with Yukari and Fuuka. Later that night, everyone was sat in the lounge when Mitsuru finally managed to get home from school, using the sign in sheet to sign in.

'Welcome back Mitsuru-senpi.' Yukari greeted her.

'Thank you Takeba.' She replied. 'Arisato, can I speak with you a moment please?'

'Sure thing.' I told her.

'Iwasaki came to speak with me before I went home.' She looked at me. 'She says that you told her I had something planned for you around the 1st.'

'Oh, about that.' I began to explain.

'Don't worry, I understand your concern.' She smiled. 'However, this is an important academic opportunity for you and you should be back just in time for the next full moon.'

'Okay, it'll require me to spend more time at practice and less time at Tartarus though, so I won't be at my full strength.' I explained to her.

'That's fine, I have full confidence that you'll exceed my expectations either way.' She told me with a smile.

Soon enough, summer vacation was here and the tournament was approaching faster than I expected. On the morning of the 1st, I packed some essentials for the trip and walked down to the lounge, where Yukari was eating her breakfast.

'Oh hey.' She greeted me. 'I'm so jealous that you get to go to the Amagi Inn, their hot springs are amazing.'

'Maybe we can go again during summer vacation?' I suggested to her.

'I think Yakushima was enough for me this year.' She replied. 'What about next year though?

'It's a promise.' I told her.

'I'll look forward to it, too bad Mitsuru and Akihiko-senpi won't be here next summer though.' She nodded.

When I got to school, Rio and Yuko oversaw organizing the trip, so they made sure everyone was present before we got on the coach to Yasogami High School, Inaba. Once we got there, we met with the opposing team, who led us to their gym which looked almost as new as Gekkoukan's. Before the match, we had a briefing in the locker room, so we all gathered around Rio.

'Alright, I know we can do this.' Rio started. 'Their team looks good, but I hear that they haven't been practicing as much as us, so we may have an advantage over them there.'

'So long as we stick to the strategy that we've been practicing, then we should be able to pull this off.' I told them all.

When we got onto the court, I tried to analyze everyone that we were up against, but I guess they aren't the same as Shadows, so I would just have to see how they played and go with it. In the end, it was a close game, but we managed to win in the last few minutes. When we got outside to be transported to the Amagi Inn, we met up with Yuko and Kaz and were greeted by a younger girl with black hair, who seemed to have been waiting for us, moments later.

'Hello, my name is Yukiko Amagi, I'll be taking you to the Amagi Inn.' She introduced herself.

'Oh, are you working there at such a young age?' Rio asked her.

'No, I just like to help my mom out whenever I can.' Yukiko smiled. 'Right this way.'

'I can't wait to try those hot springs out.' Yuko said excitedly.

'Me too.' I agreed with her.

When we got to the Amagi Inn, we entered and I was taken back by its beauty, it really was something special. We were introduced to the manager and some of the staff team, and Yukiko showed us to our rooms. When we entered it, it was the biggest room I had ever seen, something which looked like it would have cost a small fortune to book.

'Alright, this is your room.' Yukiko smiled. 'If you need anything, then don't be scared to call room service.'

Another worker approached us. 'Yukiko, your friend Chie-chan is here for you.'

'Oh, I'm so sorry but I have to go now.' She bowed to us. 'Have a nice stay!'

'She seems so mature for a kid.' Yuko commented.

'Yeah, look at this room though.' Rio pointed out.

'Never mind that, I'm ready to test out those natural hot springs.' Yuko replied.

'How did you guys manage to book a room like this?' I asked them both.

'I didn't, the manager suggested it to us for a cheap price.' Yuko told me.

'It must be a marketing thing they do here, to encourage people to come back.' Rio suggested.

We all got changed and headed down to the hot springs, when we got there, myself, Yuko and Rio were the only people there and it looked huge. We got in and the water was the perfect temperature, making it so relaxing for us.

'So, Yuko.' I spoke up. 'What's the deal with you and Kaz?'

'Yeah, you're always taking care of him, it's like you're already married.' Rio stated.

'It's nothing like that, I think he sees me as more of a motherly figure.' Yuko replied.

'Have you asked him?' I asked.

'No, but I can guess his answer.' Yuko admitted.

'You never know until you try.' Rio encouraged her.

'I'll tell you what, if in the future, we are both still single, then I'll ask him to marry me.' Yuko gave in.

'I knew it!' Rio shouted.

'You go girl!' I joined in.

The three of us laughed and enjoyed the rest of the evening, staying up all night talking and eating snacks, something which I've missed from the little childhood I had. The next morning, we got the coach back to Gekkoukan High and I went straight to the dorm to get some rest. It was finally time to enjoy my summer vacation, even though the next full moon was mere days away.


	13. Chapter XIII: The Chariot and Justice

**Chapter XII: The Chariot and Justice**

"Tonight, you will face more danger than you perhaps realize." Pharos spoke to me once again before the next battle. "Soon enough, it will all be over."

We all met in the command center as usual to discuss tonight's operation. Fuuka stood before us all, with her persona – Lucia – summoned and scanning the area for the next Shadow.

"I found it, but something's not right." Fuuka announced. "It's underground."

"Underground? How?" I asked.

"There are many underground passageways and tunnels made during the war for Japanese soldiers to use, mainly for storage." Aigis informed us.

"I see." Mitsuru thought. "Are there any entrances nearby?"

"There is only one entrance that has not been sealed, I can take you to it." She replied.

"Alright, there's no point wasting time, let's go." Mitsuru commanded.

Aigis led us to an abandoned building near the harbor and inside. We walked down to a set of old stairs to a pair of metal doors that towered above us all and looked ancient.

"Woah, those are huge!" Junpei exclaimed.

"Check out the amount of rust on them." Yukari added.

"We're not here to sightsee." Akihiko told them. "How do we open this thing."

"There is a lever here which can be used to activate the doors" Aigis pointed out.

I walked over to the lever and pulled it with all my strength. The door creaked open and shone light into the dark entranceway. Mitsuru activated a torch which shone bright, whilst Aigis activated two smaller torches on her head. We walked inside and looked around.

"The layout of the facility suggests that there is a primary generator which supplies the lights with power." Aigis analyzed.

"How do we know that the generator still works?" Akihiko asked.

"We don't until we find it." Mitsuru responded.

"Very good." A new voice echoed from the entrance. "Very good indeed."

We came together and two men were stood at the entrance; one with no shirt on and another wearing a bright green jacket. The shirtless man was clapping sarcastically at us.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Takaya." The shirtless man introduced himself. "And this here, is Jin. We are known to some as Strega."

"Strega?" Mitsuru asked.

"We have been observing your actions during The Dark Hour and have decided that we can no longer stand by." Takaya told us. "We know that you intend to eliminate The Dark Hour and we cannot allow that to happen."

"Why would you want to stop that?" Yukari asked.

"Don't you get it?" Jin finally spoke up. "If The Dark Hour disappears, so will our powers and memories of everything related to it. That means that you'll forget each other ever existed in the first place. You'll be strangers living together, you'll lose everyone."

"Do you really want to return to your pathetic normal lives?" Takaya asked us.

"You think I want this!" Yukari snapped.

"Perhaps not." Takaya admitted. "What of the rest of you?"

Junpei and I exchanged glances.

"I made a promise to defeat the Shadows." I stood forward. "If you wish to harm my friends, then I'll deal with you both myself."

"Minako." Yukari spoke my name.

Takaya laughed. "You think you can defeat us both single handedly?"

"I don't know." I admitted. "But do you really want to test that theory?"

Takaya took a deep breath. "I did not want to fight you just yet, merely introduce ourselves."

"To hell with you hypocrites, using justice as an excuse to fight because you've got nothing better to do with your lives!" Jin shouted at us, kicking the lever with his foot.

The doors closed, shutting us in complete darkness, except the lights coming from Mitsuru and Aigis.

"How are we gunna get out of here!" Yukari shouted, panicking.

"Why?" Junpei asked. "You scared of the dark or something?"

"What? No!" Yukari shouted. "Stupei."

"Stop calling me that!" Junpei shouted back.

"Then stop making fun of me!" Yukari told him.

"Come on guys." I interrupted them both. "This really isn't the time."

"We should focus our energy on the task at hand, we are running out of time." Aigis pointed out.

"She's right, let's go." Mitsuru agreed.

We all walked down a slope which led us deep underground, leaving Fuuka behind to scan the area with her Persona. We reached another room at the bottom and managed to find the generator that we were looking for.

"Aigis, can you get this working?" I asked her.

"It has sustained damage, but I should be able to reroute some of the power to restore the lights." She explained.

"Be careful." Fuuka's voiced echoed in my head. "I sense the big Shadow nearby."

With that, Aigis managed to restore power – lighting up the whole room and revealing what was inside. There were piles and piles of weapons and ammunition lined against the walls, with cannons and other machinery in the middle. A tank was separated from the rest of the machinery.

"My god." Mitsuru looked around in shock.

"I've never seen so many guns in one place at a time." Yukari pointed out.

"So many machines of war, all built to kill." Fuuka seemed disheartened. "It's hard to believe that there was once a time like that."

Junpei approached the tank. "Is this actually a real tank?"

"Well this is a real place in history." I pointed out, walking towards it.

"Wait!" Fuuka shouted out. "That's the Shadow!"

"Oh crap." Junpei realized his mistake.

"Get back!" I shouted.

I jumped back as the tank started animating before us. Everyone reacted by drawing their weapons and Junpei was immediately knocked unconscious by the Shadow.

"Junpei!" I yelled.

"Iori!" Mitsuru shouted.

"Its arcana is the Chariot." Fuuka told us. "No, wait, it's Justice? What? Why am I sensing two entities?"

"It doesn't matter, let's flatten this tank!" I told everyone.

"It seems to be using the tank as armor." Fuuka pointed out.

"Takeba, Sanada – you're on support." I ordered them. "Kirijo, Aigis, back me up!"

I summoned Orpheus into battle and used Agi to weaken the armor on the tank, whilst Aigis attacked it from behind.

"It's breaking!" Mitsuru pointed out.

"Wait, something's not right." Fuuka told us.

Suddenly, the gun of the tank broke off and revealed that there were two Shadows inside – The Chariot and Justice. The tank part drove forward, knocking myself and Aigis to the side, it then stood up using the tank treads, using the other half to pin Mitsuru against the wall, choking her.

"Mitsuru-Senpi!" Yukari shouted.

"No, stay back!" I shouted.

The gun of the tank moved and fired at Yukari, her Persona taking most of the impact, but the explosion sending her flying against the wall, hitting the floor. Aigis then used her Persona to defeat the base of the tank, which fell to the floor and stopped moving.

"One down, one to go." I told myself.

Then the gun of the tank stopped attacking and looked at the base of the tank, firing at it. The base was then resurrected and started attacking again.

"They seem to be coordinating their attacks." Mitsuru said, regaining her breath.

"Takeba and Iori are out." Akihiko pointed out. "What should we do?"

"We need to attack them both at the same time." I told them. "Go all out on them both."

"Affirmative." Aigis responded.

Aigis then stood before us and raised her arms, both Shadows looking at her.

"Palladian!" She shouted.

She summoned Palladian and launched a physical attack which hit both at the same time, knocking them both to the floor. She then finished the base of the tank as I finished the turret, bringing an end to them both. Seeing their defeat, I rushed to Yukari's side, throwing my Naginata to the ground.

"Yukari, Yukari!" I yelled. "No, please don't leave me!"

"Junpei, are you alright?" I heard Akihiko's voice.

"Please, say something! Answer me!" I begged her, a tear coming to my eye."

To my relief, she coughed and started to come around.

"Thank goodness!" I shouted with relief.

"Minako?" She asked. "Why… are you… crying?"

"I thought I lost you." I told her.

"Hey, I'll never leave you." She told me.

"Is everyone alright?" Fuuka asked us.

"Yeah, we're fine." I told her.

Mitsuru contacted Ikutsuki and arranged for someone to let us out of the underground facility. We were one step closer to eliminating The Dark Hour, but now a new enemy had emerged – Strega.


	14. Chapter XIV: Summer Vacation

**Chapter XIV: Summer Vacation**

"Everyone, report to the command centre immediately!" Fuuka's voice echoed in my mind.

I arrived in the command centre as requested, to see Fuuka with her Persona summoned as if we were about to commence another operation.

"What's going on?" Junpei demanded.

"Yamagishi detected another Persona user fighting Shadows." Mitsuru informed us.

"What? Another big one?" I questioned her.

"No, but it's still something that has to be dealt with." Mitsuru told me. "Akihiko was in the area, so he's moving to intercept."

"It would not be wise to deploy the whole team for this particular battle." Aigis told us. "Especially considering Yukari and Junpei-san's current physical conditions."

"Where are they?" I asked.

"Naganaki Shrine." Fuuka told us.

"Naganaki Shrine?" I remembered that Koromaru usually hung out there. "I'll go!"

"What? What's the matter?" Mitsuru asked.

"Koromaru might be in danger!" I shouted.

I always had a soft spot for animals and I didn't know if they were transmogrified in the same way as humans to protect them during The Dark Hour. I rushed over to Naganaki Shrine, expecting to protect him, but I found that there were no Shadows and Akihiko was crouched at an injured Koromaru.

"Koromaru!" I shouted.

"He seems to have taken quite a hit from the Shadows." Akihiko told me.

"Is everything alright?" Fuuka's voice echoed through my head.

"Yeah, the little fella's been injured pretty bad though." I told them.

"When I got here, he was fending off the Shadows all by himself when one caught him." Akihiko explained.

"We should get a vet to take care of him at once." I told him.

"Agreed." Akihiko agreed with me.

We arranged for Koromaru to have immediate treatment at the expenses of the Kirijo group and returned to the dorm. The days started to go by and I was sat in the lounge with Yukari and Aigis, trying to teach Aigis how to blend in better.

"What are you trying to say?" Aigis questioned us.

"You need to stop sounding so robotic if you want to attend big events like the summer festival." Yukari told her.

"I am a machine built for war though." She reminded us.

"Ya see, that's your problem." I pointed out. "You need to stop thinking that you're a mere machine and think that you're like everyone else, observe our conversations."

Yukari turned to me to give an example. "Hey there, how's it going Minako?"

"Good thanks, how's the recovery?" I responded.

"I see." Aigis was focusing intently.

Junpei came down the stairs. "Hey my dudes, what're you up to on such a scorching day? You know what season it is, don't you?"

"Hello my dudes, what are you doing on such a hot day? You know what season it is, do you not?" Aigis tried to mimic him.

"Ignore him, he's an idiot." Yukari told her.

"Hey, I'm standing right here!" Junpei shouted at us.

"Just keep working on analysing other's conversations and syncing your speech patterns with theirs." I told her. "You'll get there eventually."

A few more days passed by when we were summoned to the command centre once more for a meeting with Ikutsuki. When I got there, I found that Koromaru was sat next to him looking better than ever, wearing some sort of collar.

"Koro-chan, where did you get that collar?" Fuuka asked him.

"It's to control his Persona." Ikutsuki told us.

"Wait, don't tell me that the dog's a Persona user now." Junpei blurted out.

"I was surprised too, but it would seem as much." Mitsuru confirmed.

"We're really going to send him into battle?" I asked, concerned.

Koromaru ran over to me, wagging his tail. "Arf! Arf!"

"He wishes to return the favour, do not worry Arisato-san." Aigis told me.

"Don't tell me you speak Doganese or something." Junpei rolled his eyes.

"You cannot speak the language of canines, but there are features that you can spot in them that indicate what they may be saying when barking, such as body and head posture, as well as the position of the ears and tail." She explained to me.

"Wow, you really do know everything." Junpei stated.

"One of the advantages of not being able to forget anything." Ikutsuki chuckled to himself.

"Okay, then I guess he's our newest recruit?" I asked, trying to convince myself.

"Arf!" Koromaru wagged his tail excitedly.

The next day, I decided to go shopping with Rio and Yuko and I picked out some summer and winter clothing in preparation for the coming seasons. When I got back, Koromaru greeted me, wagging his tail.

"Arf! Arf!"

"Hey little fella, has nobody taken you for a walk today?" I asked him.

He whimpered sadly.

"Aw, don't worry. I'll take you instead, if that's alright with you?" I told him.

"Arf!" He ran circles around me, excitedly.

Junpei entered the lounge.

"Oh hey, I was about to take him out." He told me. "You know how wiled the girls go over dogs. Oh, sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Let's go together." I suggested.

"Uh, okay then." He agreed.

We took Koromaru together and decided to trust him without a leash, as he seemed to be smarter than the average dog. He seemed to be adamant on taking us on a specific route which ended at the shrine.

"Seems like he still wants to pay his respects, he's really one of a kind." I pointed out.

"Yeah, he is." Junpei seemed to be distracted. "Say, Minako, can I talk to you about something personal?"

"Sounds important, what's up?" I asked, leaning on a railing which overlooked the road below, watching the sun set.

"It's… well… about a girl." He seemed really embarrassed.

"A girl? You like her?" I questioned him. "I can't help you if you don't explain what it is to me."

"Sorry, you're right." He told me. "It's just that I've never felt this way about a girl before. When I'm around her, I don't want to make jokes about women and I really don't want her to think of me as something I'm not, if that makes sense."

"Wow, sounds real serious." I looked at him. "It's not Yukari, is it?"

"No, don't be ridicules – she's way out of my league!" He responded.

"Is it… me?" I took a step closer to him and looked him in the eyes.

"Not at all, we're more like best friends." He told me. "It's this red-haired chick I met at the station."

"Oh, right." I took a step back and shook my head. "Erm… What do you… need help with then?"

"Advice really, how do I talk to her and get her to listen?" He asked.

"Take it from me, you'll never understand how women think." I laughed slightly. "But, I can tell you where to start, just ask about her – listen to what she says and take an actual interest in her and what she likes."

"Really? It's as easy as that?" He asked, shocked.

"Well that's how a girl knows you're interested in her and not just getting her to the bedroom." I continued to explain.

"Right, got it." He nodded. "Man, thanks a lot Minako!"

"Anytime." I smiled at him.

Then that all too familiar feeling came to me for the first time in a while, a new bond was forming between the two of us.

'I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when creating personas of the Magician Arcana."

I held my head and saw Koromaru looking up at me with concern. Junpei was also looking at me with confusion.

"You alright?" He asked, placing his hand on my shoulder.

"Don't touch me, I'm fine!" I snapped. "I need to go back now."

Koromaru whimpered.

I walked back to the dorm with Junpei and Koromaru and went straight back to my room without saying a word to the others. I went to my sink and splashed some water on my face, shaking my head. Junpei was right, we were more like best friends. There was no way that anything romantic could happen between us, was there?


	15. Chapter XV: The Summer Festival

**Chapter XV: The Summer Festival**

It had been a busy summer so far for us, with Yakushima, the tennis tournament and full moon to deal with in the space of a month, it was finally time for us to relax and enjoy the summer – which is exactly what I intended to do. I had already made plans with Yukari and Fuuka for the day, so I got ready and headed out with them.

"So, what do you think of Ken-kun and Koromaru being on the team, Minako?" Yukari asked me.

"Koromaru truly amazed me when I took him to Tartarus, but I don't know about letting a kid fight on the front lines." I told her truthfully.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Fuuka agreed with me. "I don't know why Mitsuru and Akihiko-senpi allowed him to join us."

"There's something they aren't telling us about." Yukari accused them.

"In any case, it's about time we started acting like High School girls and actually enjoy our summer together." I told them.

"You're right." Fuuka admitted.

"Yeah." Yukari agreed. "Then, who's up for some shopping?"

"Sounds good to me!" I said, excitedly.

The evening soon came and I was looking for a way to keep cool in my room when Akihiko came to my open door and cleared his throat, catching my attention.

"Hey, you busy?" He asked.

"Not really." I told him. "What's up?"

"I need you to come somewhere with me." He said.

"At this time?" I asked, confused.

"It's important." He told me.

I could see the seriousness in his eyes, there was definitely something our senpi weren't telling us. I decided to go with him anyway and we got to the Iwatodai strip mall, outside of the Ramen restaurant there. Akihiko had a silver briefcase in his hand. We waited in silence for a while and the door opened, revealing Shinji.

"You again? I've already told you my answer." He said with distaste.

"Things have changed, this time I'm not asking." Akihiko responded, holding the briefcase to him.

"What are you talking about?" Shinji asked.

"Ken Amada has joined us." They looked at each other.

"You serious?" He sighed, taking the briefcase. "Fine."

"Minako, Shinji is as strong – if not stronger – than myself and Mitsuru, he'll be a great addition to the team." Akihiko finally acknowledged I was there.

Shinji looked at me. "So, you're the new field commander then?"

"Something like that, yeah." I told him.

"Another one huh." Shinji shook his head. "Aki, you best be looking out for her."

"I can look after myself, thanks." I told him.

"Heh, whatever. You do your thing, and I'll do my thing." Shinji told me. "Is my room still-"

"-exactly the way you left it, yeah." Akihiko finished for him.

"I guess it was only a matter of time before this day came, huh." Shinji said, walking off.

We walked back to the dorm and the next day, I came down to a pleasant smell coming from the kitchen. I went to investigate, and Shinji was in there with Koromaru, cooking a pot on the stove.

"Something smells good." I said.

"Arf!" Koromaru seemed to agree with me.

"What do you all eat here?" He asked me.

"Yukari and I usually eat out, I'm not sure about the others." I told him.

"That's no good for you." He said. "You need at least one hot meal, especially with winter coming up."

"Huh." I said.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing, I just didn't expect you to care so much." I told him.

"Yeah, well whatever." He said. "About what I said yesterday, I didn't mean it in a bad way. I was grown up being taught to protect the women in your life is all. As you've seen, I'm not exactly the best at expressing myself."

"Don't worry about it." I told him. "You kind of remind me of someone I used to know."

"I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when creating personas of the Moon Arcana."

"Maybe I'll teach you how to make my special hot pot one day." He told me.

"I'd like that, yeah." I told him.

The days went by and I was at the supermarket, buying sushi when I saw Shinji shopping himself.

"Hey, Aragaki-senpi!" I called him over.

He walked over and saw the sushi in my basket. "That boxed stuff is no good for you. Also, don't call me senpi, it's annoying."

"Okay, sorry." I apologized.

"Why? There's nothing to be sorry about." He told me. "I'm glad I ran into you here."

"Really, why?" I asked him.

"I've already told Aki, Mitsuru and Ken, but I need you to gather the others tonight." He told me.

"What for?" I asked.

"I want to make sure you're all eating properly, so we're going to have a party of sorts. I'll be cooking." He told me.

"A party sounds like fun, yeah I'll let everyone know." I replied.

"Thanks." He thanked me.

The evening came and we were all gathered around the table, when the food was served. It was like a feast fitting for a King, with almost everything we could have wanted. Shinji took off his apron and joined us at the table.

"Wow, Shinjiro-senpi, I had no idea you were such a good cook." Junpei said, amazed.

"He's always been a good cook, even when we first started out together." Akihiko told them.

"I wish I knew how to cook all of this." Yukari complemented him.

"It's very well organized too, Mr. Aragaki." Ken added.

"Alright, enough of the sappy complements, just enjoy the meal." He brushed off the complements.

"Thank you for the food!" We all said before digging into what must have been the nicest food I had ever tasted.

"Say, we'll all be going to the summer festival, right?" I asked.

"Of course! I haven't missed one yet." Yukari told me.

"Yes, myself and Akihiko will also be attending." Mitsuru told us.

"Why don't we all go together then?" Junpei suggested.

"That's a good idea." Ken agreed.

"Arf!" Koromaru barked in agreement.

"Will I be able to attend too?" Aigis asked.

"Of course." I told her. "I'll even teach you how to wear a Yukata."

"Thank you!" Aigis said with excitement.

"Will you be attending, Shinjiro-senpi?" Fuuka asked.

"I doubt it, I don't do all of that crap." He said.

"Why not?" I asked him. "Don't you want to make memories with your friends?"

"Memories huh?" He sat back and thought to himself.

The day of the summer festival soon came, and the plan was to meet the guys at Naganaki Shrine once we were ready. This was the first time I had worn a Yukata, so it took me a while with Yukari's help to get it to stay fastened. When we got to the shrine, the guys were already there and I was somewhat saddened to see that Shinji had not joined us.

"Really? You came in your regular clothes?" Yukari complained.

"What else do you want us to wear?" Junpei responded.

"Today was supposed to be about making memories, and you're treating it like any other day." Yukari told him.

"That aside, you all look great." Junpei had a pervy look on his face. "Kenji said he was going to swing by later."

"Aren't you cold in those?" Ken asked.

"What do you mean?" Mitsuru asked back.

"Well Junpei told me that you aren't wearing any-" He begun to explain.

"That's enough of that, ya little shit!" Junpei shouted, dragging him away.

"He said what?" Yukari said with disgust. "Minako, tell him!"

"Yeah." I said, disheartened.

"What's wrong?" Yukari turned to me.

"Sorry I'm late." A familiar voice echoed from behind us.

I turned to face the voice, that was Shinji in his usual outfit. Before I knew it, I was hugging him uncontrollably.

"I'm so glad you decided to come, Shinji!" I shouted with joy.

"I said I would, didn't I?" He told me.

"Not exactly." I finally let go of him with embarrassment. "A-anyway, let's enjoy the festival together."

We walked around the stalls and got some takoyaki and was sitting on a bench eating and talking together when a photographer approached us.

"Hey, are you high schoolers?" He asked.

"Yes, why?" Mitsuru responded.

"Would you like a picture to remember the day? It's free for high schoolers this morning." He asked us.

"That's a great idea!" Junpei said excitedly.

"For once, I actually agree with you Junpei – we should get a picture together." Yukari agreed.

"Yeah, we should." Shinji said, looking at me.

Coming to an agreement, we all posed for the picture and got copies for us all to keep. Since I had an abundance of yen from Tartarus, I decided to tip the guy 10,000 yen. I looked at the picture and immediately knew that it would be a picture to last.


	16. Chapter XVI: The Hermit

**Chapter XVI: The Hermit**

I was standing facing the streets as the sun started to set, looking at the picture we had just taken together when Shinji approached me.

"Hey, Yukari's looking for you." He told me.

I turned to face him. "Thanks."

"Why're you stood here by yourself anyway?" He asked.

"I was just thinking to myself." I told him. "I wonder if she'd be having such a good time here?"

"She?" He asked.

I decided to tell him the story of Sasaki and how I found myself in Port Island. When I was done, he looked at me as if he understood my pain.

"And I thought my past was bad." He told me. "So, you've been by yourself until you met Mitsuru and the others?"

"Yeah." I looked to the sky at the fireworks that were being let off.

"I guess were the same in that sense then. Aki and Mitsuru saved me." He told me.

"Why did you leave them if they meant so much to you?" I asked him.

"I made a mistake, one which I'll never forgive myself for." He told me.

I assumed he didn't want to talk about it.

"Hey, can you do me a favor?" He asked.

"Sure, what is it?" I asked him.

He pulled a pocket watch out of his jacket pocket. "Can you take this to the repair shop for me and have it repaired?"

"Why can't you do it?" I asked him.

"If you bring it back to me, I might consider telling you my story." He told me, closing his eyes in pain.

"Oh." I immediately knew what he meant. "Don't worry about it, I got this."

"Thanks." He thanked me.

"Hey! There you are!" Yukari suddenly shouted over to us from afar.

"I guess that's my que to leave." He said, walking away and leaving the two of us alone.

Yukari hurried over to me. "You okay?"

"Yeah." I said, watching Shinji walk away. "Say, we'll make it through this – right?"

"Of course!" She told me. "Once this is over, we'll have the best party you've ever seen – so don't go dying on me yet."

I laughed. "Right back at ya."

We went and rejoined the others at the festival and made memories to last a lifetime.

"You don't want history to repeat itself, huh?" Pharos was before me once more.

"You're lucky I don't sleep naked." I told him, still somehow managing to crack a joke after been woken up from deep sleep.

"What do you mean? Are you forgetting that I am always with you?" He laughed.

"That's not creepy at all." I told him.

"Are you having second thoughts about eliminating The Dark Hour?" He asked.

"Honestly? I don't know." I told him.

"Well no matter what happens, just remember that we will always be friends." He tried to comfort me.

"Yeah, thanks Pharos." I thanked him.

The beats of Club Escapade echoed throughout the room as we fought the next full moon Shadow, The Hermit. Electricity seemed to be flowing throughout the entire mall, with lightning bolts striking all around us.

"Yamagishi! What's going on?" I shouted.

"The Shadow is using the electrics that run under the mall to amass great power." She informed me.

"How do we stop that?" I asked.

"You need to sever the wires that are connected to the underground generators." She told me. "If you don't, then it will be able to use the entire cities electrical current to wipe us all out in one go."

I jumped back. "Dammit, okay then. How do we find these generators?"

"I can guide you there, but the wires will have to be severed at two points to stop the current." Aigis informed me.

"Great. Aigis, Amada and I will handle position A. Kirijo, you lead Koromaru, Takeba and Iori to position B. Sanada and Aragaki, I'll need you to keep this guy busy! Understood?" I ordered the group.

"Got it." Mitsuru responded.

"Yes." Aigis agreed.

"Now this is the job for us, right Aki?" Shinji smiling.

"Right, let's do this." Akihiko agreed.

Now determined to end this battle quickly, we headed to the underground tunnels with Aigis as our guide. As expected, there were Shadows to greet us but they weren't even worthy of a Persona summoning, as we quickly fought through them. We reached an intersection and Aigis told us to spilt there. We did as she said and soon made our way to the generator.

"This is it!" Aigis told us. "Once this goes down, the others will be safe to sever the other wires."

"Right, I'll leave the honors to you, Amada." I told him.

"Thank you, Ms. Arisato." Ken said as he summoned his Persona, destroying the generator.

"Generator's down, hit the wires Kirijo and we can all go home." I told them all through the comms.

We made our way back to the dance floor to see Akihiko and Shinji on the ground in front of a defeated Shadow, all three of them exhausted. When they saw us, they got to their feet panting.

"Don't. Say. A word. Mitsuru." Shinji said, letting off a slight laugh.

"I'm just glad you're both alright." She responded.

"You weren't doubting us, was you?" Akihiko asked.

She laughed. "Of course not, Akihiko."

"Anyway, I'll let you guys add the finishing touch." Shinji said.

Then the Shadow suddenly let out a roar and caught us all off guard with a blast of electricity which separated everyone. However, the shadow had its eye set on one person – me. It struck me with a bolt of lightning before I could summon Orpheus to protect me, causing me to drop my evoker and hit the floor. It charged up another attack and I looked as my death starred me in the eyes.

"No! Stop it!" I heard Shinji shout from behind the Shadow.

Then he started screaming as his Persona was summoned, catching the Shadow off guard. When I looked at it though, it was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Its eyes were red with rage and flames sprouted from its legs. It roared and tackled the Shadow to the ground, slamming it in the face repeatedly, killing it in the most gruesome way I had ever seen. Once it was done with the Shadow, it set its sights on us, launching an attack on Ken who was stood closest to Shinji. Somehow, I found the strength to put my body between Ken and the now berserk Persona.

"Shinji! It's me, look at me!" I shouted.

"Stop it. Dammit. Just stop!" He begged his persona.

Eventually, he managed to gain hold of his Persona again and he collapsed to the floor. Everyone was in shock, and before long I passed out from exhaustion. What happened there?


	17. Chapter XVII: Back to School

**Chapter XVII: Back to School**

After the most memorable summer ever, it was finally time to get used to being a high school student again. When I was about to leave one morning, I was stopped by a strange sight in the lounge – Aigis wearing our school uniform, surrounded by everyone else.

"Don't tell me." I stopped in my tracks.

"I mentioned it as a joke and Ikutsuki took it serious and now here we are." Yukari filled me in.

"From this day forth, I shall be attempting to sync my own routine with yours in the hope of being better prepared for an emergency." Aigis told me.

"When discussing it with Ikutsuki, he told me that he wanted to monitor her behavior and adaptation abilities in a school environment." Mitsuru told me.

"Huh, well as long as she doesn't blow her cover – I have no issue with it." I replied.

"I can assure you that won't be an issue." Aigis confirmed.

When we got to school, it turned out that Aigis was going to be in my class – making her the second transfer student of the year. After a rather eventful morning, I was called out by Ms. Toriumi before going to lunch.

"I need you to do me a favor." She told me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The health committee recently lost a member to that Apathy Syndrome thing that's been going around. So, it'd look good for us both if you could give them a hand this lunch please." She told me.

"Sure, I can't see why not." I told her.

"Great, head there now then." She smiled. "They'll be expecting you."

I did as I was told and headed for the nurse's office, where the health committee was located. When I got there, I was greeted by a rather mature looking student, who I almost mistook for a teacher.

"Hello. Can I help you?" She asked me.

"I'm here for the health committee." I told her.

"Oh, you must be Arisato-san." She smiled brightly. "Thank you so much for taking the time to help me here."

"No problem, is it just you here?" I asked.

"Yes, unfortunately so, which is why I'm so glad you came." She admitted. "I'm Saori, by the way."

"Nice to meet you." I greeted her.

"Shall we get started then?" She asked.

I spent my whole lunch break helping Saori, so I didn't have the time to get anything to eat. When we were done, she smiled and let off a sigh of exhaustion.

"Is that everything?" I asked.

"Yes, thank you." She told me. "If you can spare any other time, then it'd be greatly appreciated."

"I'll see when I'm free and let you know." I smiled at her.

"I'm truly relieved to hear you say that." She smiled back. "If you ever need any medical advice or wounds treating then feel free to come by whenever you like and I'll be sure to prioritize you over the other students."

"Oh, thank you." I told her.

"I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast established a new bond. Thou shalt be blessed when creating personas of the Hermit Arcana."

When I got back to the dorms that night, I went to the kitchen and took out my bento I had made for today's lunch. I was putting it in the bin when Shinji entered.

"What's that you're throwing away?" He asked.

"My bento, I was busy all lunch so didn't get to eat it." I told him.

"You shouldn't skip meals ya know." He told me.

"I know, I just couldn't help it today is all." I reassured him.

There was a moment of silence as Shinji got a glass of water. We both knew that what happened during the last full moon needed to be addressed.

"I guess there's no use in hiding it anymore." Shinji sighed.

"Hiding what?" I asked.

"I can't fully control my Persona, which is why it went berserk the other day." He admitted.

"Oh, right. I had no idea." I told him.

"Why would you?" He said. "The reason it's usually under control is because I take drugs to suppress it."

I was in complete shock. "What? Drugs?"

"Yeah, I'm only telling you this because you're our leader and I trust you." He told me.

"Right." I shook my head. "And what are the side effects of these drugs?"

Shinji closed his eyes. "Let's just say I probably don't have much longer left."

"You're going to die?" I shouted.

"Keep your voice down will you." He told me.

"So, after all we've been through together, it never occurred to you that you should tell me that you're going to die?" I asked him.

"Don't be stupid, of course it occurred to me." He answered.

I slapped him. "You're the stupid one!"

I had no idea what had just come over me, but I felt as though I was about to cry. I expected Shinji to hit me back or get mad, but instead he just embraced me.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before." He apologized.

I think I just witnessed a side of Shinji that no one else had ever seen before. In any case, I decided to go to bed for the night. The next full moon was approaching and I remembered that Shinji wanted me to repair his pocket watch, so I decided to go to the repair shop.

"This is a unique model, it'll be costly to have it repaired. You might as well buy a new one." The shopkeeper told me.

"Money isn't an issue here." I told him.

"What kind of High Schooler says that?" He replied. "In any case, it'll take some time to make the repairs."

"That's fine, when will it be ready for collection?" I asked him.

"I'd say October 5th." He replied.

"That's fine, thank you." I bowed and left the store.

October 3rd soon came and as expected, I was visited by Pharos. Although this time, he had something rather interesting to say for a change.

"Hello again, can you believe that it's already been six months since we met?" He asked me.

"Time flies when you're having fun, I guess." I told him.

"Indeed. As will it bring us all to the same end." He replied. "Another challenge awaits you, as this coming day holds great significance to your comrades."

"What's so special about October 4th?" I asked him.

He laughed my question away. "It will be quite interesting to see how the events of this next full moon unfold."

With that, the boy disappeared into the darkness. I sat up on my bed thinking about why he would always show himself on nights before the full moon. Something didn't feel right about him or the Shadows we were defeating. We were supposed to be helping mankind and putting a stop to Apathy Syndrome, but it only seemed to be getting worse at the months went by. I had no evidence, but everything that had happened up until now seems to be too much of a coincidence to not be a setup. In any case, I had no choice but to go through with this next full moon. Thus, I went to sleep and October 4th soon came to us, bringing with it a sacrifice that I would never forget.


	18. Chapter XVIII: October 4th

**Chapter XVIII: October 4** **th**

I got to the command room to report as usual, but when I got there – Yukari was waiting for me and Junpei soon followed.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"Mitsuru told me to wait for you two, they've gone to Iwatodai to scan further." Yukari explained.

"Well, let's get there then." Junpei said, making his way out of the room.

I stopped Yukari. "Hey, can I talk to you about something after this?"

"Sure thing." She smiled at me. "Let's go."

We made our way into Iwatodai to where Mitsuru, Akihiko, Koromaru, Aigis and Fuuka was.

"Where's Shinji?" Akihiko asked.

Mitsuru shook her head. "Amada did say he couldn't make it tonight."

"Don't tell me." Akihiko gasped. "Those two are-"

"Akihiko?" Mitsuru asked.

"Today's October 4th, right?" He asked. "Find those two immediately, they're probably together!"

"R-right!" Fuuka replied.

"October 4th, that's right!" Mitsuru realized.

"What's so special about October 4th?" I asked.

Mitsuru and Akihiko both looked at each other before sighing.

"Well?" I demanded an answer.

"Minako…" Yukari said my name.

"On this day two years ago, myself, Akihiko and Shinji were pursuing a Shadow when Shinji lost control of his Persona. Unfortunately, there was but one casualty." Mitsuru explained. "Amada's mother."

"No way." Junpei was in shock.

"Shinji. Killed Amada's mother?" I confirmed.

"Unintentionally, yes." Akihiko stated.

"I've found them, they're together!" Fuuka shouted out.

"Where?" Akihiko and I demanded.

"The alley behind Port Island station!" She replied.

Akihiko ran forward, but was suddenly attacked by the lurking Shadows, Strength and Fortune. We all stopped and turned our attention to what was in front of us. I summoned Orpheus and immediately engaged them.

"We'll make short work of these!" I shouted, letting out a blast of fire at them. "Please. Shinji. Amada. Hang in there."

I'll admit that I didn't have any control during this battle, I just wanted the Shadows dead and I wanted them now. All I cared about at that moment was getting to Shinji and Amada before anything bad happened to them. We summoned our Persona into battle and engaged the Shadows. However, something I had never seen before happened. Yukari attempted to engage the Fortune Shadow, but the Strength Shadow intercepted her attack before her Persona was even summoned, knocking her out.

"Yukari!" I shouted.

"No way, whilst we were summoning?" Junpei questioned.

Then the Fortune Shadow summoned something from the sky.

"What's this?" Fuuka asked. "Roulette?"

The Fortune Shadow jumped into the middle of the roulette bored and it spun around, landing on the red section. With that, a sudden blast was let out, knocking out Junpei and Koromaru.

"Are you alright?" Aigis asked.

"Iori! Koromaru!" Mitsuru shouted. "Where's Minako?"

"Persona!" I shouted.

Orpheus engaged Strength and Fortune started spinning the wheel again. Mitsuru tried stopping it with ice, but was stopped by Strength.

"We don't have time for this!" I shouted.

"Strength seems to be protecting Fortune somehow, focus on that one first." Fuuka advised us.

"Got it!" I replied firmly.

"Minako, you've gotta stop that roulette thing!" Akihiko shouted. "We'll handle the other one!"

Mitsuru and Aigis pinned Strength down, giving Akihiko enough time to attack it – leaving Fortune wide open. I looked at it, as it spun around and for a split second, I thought if this was the right thing to do, but then…

"Minako!" Akihiko shouted out. "If you don't hurry, Shinji's gunna!"

With those words being herd, I let out a scream and summoned the most powerful persona in my possession.

"THOR!"

Thor swung his hammer, full force at Fortune – shattering it just before it could let out another one of its bigger attacks. Once I realized that the battle was over, I immediately made a run for the alley behind Port Island station. All I could think about was Shinji, nothing else mattered in that moment, I refused to let history repeat itself. I refused to let Shinji die like this!

I reached Port Island station and jumped down the stairs, but was suddenly stopped by a shot echoing throughout the dead night. I gripped the handle of my Naginata.

"No, please no." I uttered.

I sprinted down the ally and immediately saw the pool of blood on the floor before Shinji and Ken. Then I noticed the bullet wound in Shinji and HE was stood there with steam coming from the end of his revolver, he who called himself Strega that time.

"What a letdown." He smirked, turning to walk away from the scene.

"No!" I yelled. "You bastard!"

I threw my Naginata, full force, aiming for his head and it barely missed his hair. I ran over to Shinji's side and collapsed onto the floor next to him.

"Shinji! Shinjiro!" I shouted.

"Shinji?" Akihiko had now arrived on the scene, shortly followed by the others.

Ken stood there, in complete shock of what had just happened in front of him.

Shinji coughed. "What's with that look? You just got your wish for God's sake."

"I-" Ken was speechless.

"Listen kid, you're just a kid so don't go wasting your anger." He told him. "Instead, turn it into power, let it be your strength."

"We have to deal with these wounds! Quickly!" I begged, starting to cry.

"No, Minako. This is how it should be." He told me. "Don't blame the kid, you would have done the same in his position."

"Shinji! Please, don't leave me!" I shouted. "I need you!"

He let off a final smile goodbye and closed his eyes, accepting his fate. I got to my feet, his blood on my hands. I couldn't believe what just happened again, and all because of some little shit I shouldn't blame? Bullshit! I walked away from the scene, not uttering a word to anyone else and not even looking at Ken.

Fate truly is the bearer of cruelty…


End file.
